Red
by troyella17
Summary: Gabriella Montez, a New York city babe, a socialite, the girl who's got it all. Troy Bolton, a simple, down to earth guy who gets thrown into this elite world of galas, parties, and everything else in between. They come from two different worlds, but maybe that's a good thing...
1. Chapter 1

"Do you think this color washes me out?"

Charlotte looked up from painting her nails and tilted her head, trying to decide if in fact this dress I'm holding up in front of me isn't for me. "It doesn't wash you out, I just don't think I really like it."

Ugh. I threw it on my bed and went back into my closet. "I seriously have nothing to wear tonight, Char. What am I going to do?!"

"Gabriella," she says as she gets up and comes over to me, "if I have something to wear tonight then you do, too. What about that new Chanel dress your mom just bought you? It'd be perfect for tonight along with your Jimmy Choo pumps."

Oh my gosh, she's right. The dress. I walked out of my closet, went down the hallway to the coat closet and grabbed the dress my mom store in there. It was so pretty.

I quickly came back in my room and showed Charlotte the dress, "yes, this is it."

Char smiled and blew on her nails so they could dry quicker, "Duh. You can never go wrong with Chanel, everyone knows that."

True. And definitely not tonight. Tonight, I had to look my absolute best. It's Stacy Smith's big end of summer party and everyone looks forward to it all summer. It's pretty much to welcome back everyone from the Hamptons or whatever fabulous place they've been at during the summer. It's also a way to kick off the school year and this is our last year- senior year. We had to make tonight great. And I had to look great since my ex boyfriend was going to be there. Ugh. I had to show him what he's missing out on and why he'll never get better than me.

Okay, no. That's very narcissistic. But whatever. I hate him.

"Morgan told me that Lily told her that Ryan's definitely going to be there tonight," Char tells me as she scrunches her nose, "you going to be okay?"

Of course I will be. We broke up three months ago but we dated on and off for like two years. It was done, for sure, though, this time. And yeah, I loved him, but he wants someone else? He wants to explore his options? Well, fine. "We're still friends, it's fine."

We are still friends, but it's like a love-hate thing. I can't stand him anymore and we're only staying friends because our dads have been friends FOREVER.

"Well, I, for one, am really excited about starting senior year single," she proclaims, "do you have any idea how much fun we'll have? It's senior year, so many fun parties, so much to do before we leave this place for college. Ah, I'm excited just thinking about it."

And I was, too. I couldn't wait until graduation and I'm on my way to Brown. Leaving New York City behind. Sure, it's home and always will be, but I need a change. And I'm so ready for that to happen.

"Here's to senior year," I grab my champagne that my maid brought us a little bit ago since she knows we love to have a drink before we go to any party.

"To senior year," Char rose her glass up, "and being best friends forever."

"And being best friends forever."

Seriously. This year was going to be the best, ever.

* * *

"Are you drunk already?"

"What?" I pushed my hair out of my face as Morgan asked me, "no, I've had two drinks."

Two. One at home and one on the ride over here. I only drink at parties. Or at home before a party. And that's it. But do I seriously look drunk or is Morgan just pulling my leg? Because that's the last thing I want to look like right now. I have people to impress. Well... Ryan.

Morgan shook her head, "Sorry, I just, Char told me she's feeling tipsy and if Char is then I just assumed..."

"Well, no," I tell her, "I'm fine."

She nods and turns around and I followed her to our group of friends. Char is already sitting there with them since I ran to the bathroom really quick. This party was at the fabulous and grand Waldorf Astoria hotel. And everyone from school was here. Everyone from other schools were here. It was the party to be at, that's for sure. I mean, there's no place better than this hotel. It's one of the best in all of New York.

I've missed my friends. Besides Morgan and Char, I haven't seen many this summer since they each vacationed somewhere different than us.

Morgan, Char and I spent pretty much the whole summer in the Hamptons. Savannah went to Europe for a couple of months with her family and family friends while Cassie split her time between California, here and a few places in Europe. She went all over.

"Can you guys believe we're starting our senior year?" Cassie shakes her, still can't believing we're 10 months away from graduating, "It's crazy."

"Tell me about it," Morgan chimes in, "I think I'm pretty sad about it. And it hasn't even started."

Savannah scoffed and leaned back in booth, "Oh please, college is going to be the best years of our lives. I can't wait to go to Yale and never look back. All the guys are so much better at college."

True. That's a plus.

"Except I'm not looking forward to splitting up," she continues, "can't we all just go to the same college and rule it together?"

We couldn't help, but laugh. Ruling a college? That's a little crazy. Ruling our school? Now that's believable because we do. It's us five versus everyone. Well, not exactly versus. But we're popular ones. People want to sit with us. People want us attending their parties. People want to be our friends.

And we are friends with a lot of the people, but do we trust everyone? Nope.

It's us five against the world and I'm pretty sure it'll always be like that. I mean, we've been friends since the 3rd grade. All of us.

"Hey guys!"

We all turn towards Stacy who's standing in front of us.

Stacy Smith. She has her own crowd, but it's not a competition. She's nice, she's sweet, she's gorgeous and she knows her boundaries. I mean, it sounds so narcissist, but she knows better than to try to compete with us because we'd take them down. We're more popular. No questions about it.

"Thanks for inviting us," Morgan holds up her drink, "great party."

Stacy smiles and sips on her martini, "thanks. Music's playing soon and food should be out shortly so help yourselves to whatever you guys want."

We thanked her and she walked away. I picked up my martini and took a sip. It was so easy to get alcohol in New York. Most people didn't even care if you were under 18. Which we all are. Well, I'm 2 months away from 18, but whatever. As long as you're rich or you have a well respected family, they don't care. You can get whatever you want.

"So Savannah," Char turns to her, "how's William?"

Savannah blushed and closed her eyes for a second while letting out the biggest smile, "He's um, he's good. He should be around here somewhere soon."

I turn towards her a bit, "Yeah? You guys finally hooked up last night?"

She nodded and smiled, "We did. I mean, I kind of knew it would happen since at the beginning of summer something was there. But I was off to Paris and Italy and stuff and he was going to the Hamptons so timing sucked. But saw him yesterday and we finally kissed."

"Aww, Sav, I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks, G," she picked up her drink, "obviously nothing's official yet, but I like him so we'll see where this thing goes."

Savannah and Morgan are the only ones with boyfriends in the group and that was fine. We all can't be single at the same time. Or taken at the same time. How boring would that be?

The music started playing, Morgan and Cassie slipped out to grab themselves another drink and we quickly followed after a short while. Before I knew it, we were all out and about mingling with everyone, catching up with people we haven't seen all summer and swaying along to the music. Parties in New York City are sophisticated and classy. And most importantly, fun. It has to be classy because well, everyone lives in nice penthouses or townhouses. We like to dress up here. I mean, I don't all the time. Being in sweats and a t shirt is my favorite thing in the world, but definitely not at a party. Nope. It's social suicide.

"I'm gonna go use the restroom," I tell Cassie over the music.

She nods and continues dancing and mingling with some of our friends.

And after I used the bathroom, I went to the bar and ordered myself another martini. I have a car service. It's one of my last days of summer. I deserve to have a little bit of fun, right? Right.

I turned around with my drink in hand and before I knew it, I was screaming at some guy to watch it because he bumped into me causing my to spill.

"I'm sorry!"

I looked down at my dress and shoes to make sure I didn't get any on there, "Yeah, you really..."

Upon looking up, I was met with the bluest of eyes that made me lose my thoughts. What else was I going to say? Ah, it's not important anymore. This guy. This guy that was standing in front of me was the most gorgeous guy I have ever seen in my entire life. So hot. And oh my gosh, I just yelled at him.

I just yelled at the hot guy.

"Umm," I tried rebounding from probably being such a bitch, "it's okay. I'm fine."

Not only did I make the most annoyed noise, but I'm pretty sure I was about to tell him that he should watch where the fuck he was going. So not nice.

He looked right into my eyes and for a second, I think my heart stopped. Who is this guy? Where did he come from? And why is he so freaking attractive? Like, I have to get to the bottom of this right now.

"You sure?"

I nod, "I'm sure. Sorry. I thought you were someone else and so I was about to yell at you..." Nice save, Gabriella. NOT.

He laughed as he stepped forward and past me and said something to the bartender. And then he turned back around and leaned against the bar with his arms crossed, "I guess I'm pretty lucky."

God, he was so hot. Like so hot. I need to know who this is.

I didn't have a chance to really say anything else about the matter because he turned around and grabbed some drinks the bartender gave him and then handed me one, "Sorry about that. Next time I'll look where I'm going."

And then he walked away. Just like that. No name. Nothing. And it made me mad.

So mad.


	2. Chapter 2

"Gabriella!"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked over at Charlotte. "Hmm?"

She gave me a weird look before picking up her cell phone, "What's up? You seem distracted. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I tell her. And I am. But for the past 20 minutes, all I've been thinking about is the insanely hot guy that I bumped into. I couldn't stop thinking about him and how attractive he was and how it seemed like he wanted nothing to do with me. And it was slightly disappointing.

I'm mainly thinking about him because I haven't seen him around before. And I know a lot of people. I know everyone at this party, basically.

So, who is he? And what's his deal?

"Are you sure?" she asks again after she's done sending a text message, "Brent Morgan just asked if you wanted a drink and you said no. You said no to Brent Morgan. One of the hottest guys at school."

Okay, yeah, he was hot. But I guess I was just distracted. Normally, I would. I've always found him attractive, but he's had a girlfriend for the longest time and now he's single so he's making his move, maybe? I don't now. I should have said yes, but I don't know. I honestly don't know why I'm acting so weird and I'm thinking about this guy I was literally in the presence of for a minute. A fucking minute.

Before I could even say anything back, I saw Stacy Smith straight ahead talking to the guy I was just thinking about. Oh my gosh.

"I'll be right back," I tell Char before slipping out of the booth.

Think, Gabriella. Think of a game plan.

I walked over to them and stopped when I reached them and Stacy turned towards me with a small smile, "Hey, what's up?"

What was up? Ummm. Oh yeah, okay, I could talk to her about something. "No, nothing, I was just wondering if you have the number of that girl you said should dye my hair. I'm thinking about going tomorrow if she's available."

Oh my gosh. Perfect!

"Oh yeah!" she perked up, "yeah, um, let me go get my phone really quick, I left it at the table."

And with that, she was off. And I was standing here with this hot guy. I usually didn't make the first move, but if I was going to have to, it was going to be in a discreet way obviously and this is it. I hope...

He stood there not really saying anything but sipping on his beer. And I didn't know if I should speak up or not.

I'm going to have to. "Sorry about earlier."

He looked over at me and looked sort of surprised that I was saying something, and I think he was maybe trying to figure out if I was talking to him or not, but who else could I be talking to? "Oh um, yeah, no, I'm sorry. I should have been looking at where I was going instead of texting."

"It's okay," I smiled at him.

And then Stacy came back, "Okay, you ready to jot it down?"

I clicked on new contact on my phone and nodded and listened carefully to each number so I could punch it in. And once I did, I saved the contact and locked my phone, "thanks so much. I really need to dye it before school starts."

"So do I," she tells me, locking her phone as well, "it got so light this summer and I kind of want it to be darker. I think that suits me way better."

"It does," I agree with her, "I'm not sure what I want to do with my hair yet. I'll see..."

She was about to say something, but the hot guy spoke up. "Um, Stace..."

Stacy turned to him and chuckled a bit, "oh my gosh, sorry, Troy. What did you want again?" she asked him but then turned towards me, "Gabriella, this is my cousin Troy. He just moved here from Chicago."

Her cousin?! Ahhhh.

"Chicago, eh," I tell him, "I love it there. I've only been a handful of times, but every time I've been, oh my gosh, best time ever. And best food, ever."

I think this made a little interested. Like he's surprised and interested that I know about Chicago. "Yeah? You've been?"

"Mhmm," I nod, taking a little sip of the drink he got me. I haven't really touched it because I was so distracted searching the room for him and wondering who he was, "I went this past April. Reminds me a bit of here so I'm sure you won't miss it too much."

"I'm sure I will," he chuckles a bit, "but New York's pretty great."

Stacy intervenes a bit and tells her cousin something that had nothing to do with me. Obviously. I mean, why would it? "Just call Tim whenever you want to leave, he'll be in the front to pick you up."

Troy's his name, yeah? That's what I heard her call him, right? Or what?

"Okay, cool," he tells her.

Stacey turns back to me, "Chicagoans don't know how to party like us. They get tired."

I chuckled, but not too much so it doesn't offend him. But I mean, it's true. I feel like no one knows how to party like New Yorkers. Especially Upper East Side New Yorkers where these parties last until 2 or 3, but it's still always classy and stuff, you know? Yes, drunk people. But nothing scandalous.

"Whatever," he laughs as he takes another sip of his beer.

"Troy's starting school with us on Monday," she tells me, "so lucky me gets to show him the ins and outs of our school."

Oh my gosh, he's going to our school now? I've known everyone at our school for the past seven years or so. We've all been to school together for so long that most of the time, I don't care how I look in front of them. Even if there are super hot guy.

But now that he's going to be there, oh my gosh, I have to dress up, right? I have to look good at all times for him. Because he's THAT good looking. Fuckkk.

"Oh cool, I'm sure you're going to fit right in."

"Thanks," he laughs a bit and I'm not sure if he thinking I'm being sarcastic or not, but if he's related to Stacy then I'm sure he'll be just fine. Stacy's pretty popular. People like her. People want to be like her. Not like us, but still.

And then there was a small silence between all of us and I didn't really know what else to say to the guy.

But luckily he spoke up. "I'm gonna go find Matt and the guys."

Matt Smith? Oh well duh! Of course he's his cousin, too. Matt and Stacy are twins. And Matt's one of the most popular guys in school. Okay, yeah, he'll be just fine at school. I'm sure of it.

"So you guys are cousins?" I ask Stacy as soon as he's far enough not to hear.

She turns to me after scanning the room and nods, "Yeah, why?"

I shrug, "No reason. I literally bumped into him earlier and I spilled my drink so that's pretty funny."

"Oh," she chuckles, "yeah, he moved from Chicago and he's staying with us for a bit because his parents still haven't sold the house and his dad can't relocate his job until like the end of November so yeah."

Hmm okay. I want to know more. Like, is he single or what? But I know Stacy and I can't just straight up ask that because she's super protective. She's so protective of her brother and seriously scares like every single girl off. Well, no, not every girl. But some. So yeah, not going there.

Plus, I'm not saying I want to date this guy. I just want to know his deal. Since he is super good looking. Probably the hottest guy here now.

"That's nice of you guys."

"Yeah," she nods while looking over my shoulder, "oh, I have to talk to Jenny. I'll see you later, okay?"

She ran off and left me there by myself. So I turned around and started heading back to my friends but on the way, I turned to the right and saw Troy with Matt in the corner of the room laughing.

And then he turned towards me and our eyes locked. It was almost magical. They locked and my heart skipped a beat. And it was so crazy. So crazy.

I'm not usually like this, ever. What is happening?

Who is this guy?!

* * *

"Gabriella!" Cole Peterson called me over as I passed by him.

I looked over at him and gave him a small smile and then walked over and greeted him with a hug, "What's up?"

He shrugged, "Nothing, how was your summer?"

Cole Peterson was a good friend of mine. Him and his group and my group, we'd tend to get together and hang out. It was a nice little friendship. "It was pretty good. Went to the Hamptons, the usual. What about you? Where'd you go, Aruba?"

"Yeah, yeah," he nodded, "went to Aruba and then went to California for a bit actually to visit some family. It was nice, but I'm glad to be home."

And just as I was about to say something , Troy came over to us and handed Cole a beer.

He turned to me and gave me a small smile.

Oh my gosh, he's everywhere. And now I'm suddenly nervous. When it was just Cole and I, I was fine, but now, he's in the mix and he's standing here and looking so good and I'm nervous. I don't know what else to really say.

"This is Troy," Cole introduces me, "Matt's cousin."

"Yeah, um, I already met him through Stacy," I let him know, "but um, nice to meet you... again?"

Troy chuckled and ran his hands through his hair, which made it even more difficult to not be nervous, "nice to meet you, too."

Cole looked like he was distracted by something going on, on the other side of the room and after a minute or so, he hopped off the booth he was sitting on and went over there. "Sorry guys, I'll be right back, I gotta go do something..."

I don't know what he needed to do, but he left me alone with Troy. And I have no idea what to say to him. This isn't how this night was supposed to be.

Like at all.

I was supposed to have fun with my girls and drink and dance.

But no, I'm here, incredibly nervous in front of some new guy. And it's so awkward how people keep leaving us together.

"Gabriella, is it?"

What? He's starting a conversation with me? Or he's just asking for my name? Ahh either way, he's talking to me and that's incredibly exciting. "What?" I play dumb, like I wasn't listening, but of course I was. "Oh, yeah, it's Gabriella."

He nodded and looked away for a second, "do you want me to get you another drink? I think I'm gonna go back and get myself one."

Oh um. I don't really, but I don't think I want to say no to him. "Yeah, sure. Um, I'll take a gin and tonic."

"Sure," he smiles before walking off.

And then I take a deep breath and turn around and see that all my friends are on the dance floor dancing and having a good time. I quickly go over to them to try to figure out what's going on. When are we leaving. If we're all leaving together or what.

I pull Char out of the group of people so we're one on one, "what time are you thinking of leaving?"

She pushes her hair out of her face and looks down at her watch, "Um, oh fuck, it's almost 11:30? Morgan and I were going to stop by her cousin's party she's throwing at her place."

"You're going to that?" I tilt my head, confused, since this is the party to be at right now.

"Yeah, I promised Morgan," she says, "and plus, we've been here for a few hours, it's fine. Her cousin's party is going to be filled with college guys. Why don't you come?"

Nah, I'll pass. Morgan's cousin lives on the upper west side and no. I'm closer to home where I'm at now. "Nah, maybe next time."

I let her get back to dancing and then I search for Cassie, who wasn't too far away and was now talking to some friends. I grabbed her hand and pulled her away for a quick second which she didn't look too happy about.

"Hey, Monique was just about to tell me she knows someone who she wants to hook me up with!"

"Sorry," I apologized to her, "it'll only take a second. I was just wondering when you were going to leave? Where's Savannah, do you know when she wants to get going? Is she gonna come with us?"

"Oh, I don't know," Cassie shrugged, "I know she's with Will so probably not. She'll probably go home with him, and for me, well, I think I'm gonna go with Char and Morgan to her cousin's party. It sounds like fun. College boys. Who wouldn't want to hang around that?"

She laughed but I didn't. They were stranding me here?!

I was a little annoyed. "You guys, I told Martin he didn't have to be on call because I had my ride home situated. You were supposed to take me home!"

"Then just come with us," she says, "what's the big deal? You've been here long enough."

No, yeah, I guess so. But even if I was to leave, I wouldn't want to go over there. Not tonight at least. Any other night, yes. But doesn't seem worth it just going for a couple of hours.

"No," I shake my head, "it's fine. I'll text Martin. He's nice. He'll forgive me."

"He will," Cassie laughs, "but we're leaving in about 20 if you want to come with, okay? But let me get back to Monique..."

I let her go and then I turned back and realized that Troy was getting me a drink. Oh shit. I quickly rushed back to where we were a bit ago and luckily, he wasn't back yet. I had some time to spare so I took out my cell phone to send a text to Martin, my driver.

But Troy came back and he handed me my drink and I completely just stopped what I was doing and put my phone in my purse that was over my shoulder.

"Sorry it took a little while," he tells me looking a little apologetic, "I got caught up talking to someone."

Yeah, yeah, it's fine. "Oh, no, it's fine," I tell him taking a drink.

"What's your deal, Gabriella?" he turns to me and asks me with a smirk on his face.

"My deal?"

"Yeah, what's your deal?" he repeats himself, "I just passed a group of girls who said your name about 10 times and said they can't wait to see what you wear to school on Monday. I mean, don't we all have to wear uniforms?"

Oh fuck. How embarrassing. "Oh um, I don't know who you're talking about, but I'm sure they're just kidding around."

"Nah," he laughs, "they seemed really interested in you. Are you some sort of popular girl who has this whole school wrapped around their finger?"

Something like that.

But obviously I wasn't going to admit to that. No way. I didn't want to come off like some stuck up princess. But honestly, I think if I asked one of those girls to go grab me five bagels from down the street right now, they'd go. NO hesitation. And it's literally so crazy. It's because of my parents. I know it is.

"I mean, I don't have them wrapped around my whole finger."

He laughed, a little harder than I expected him to so that's good, right? "So I'm talking to the Queen B or the school? Wow, I'm honored."

Aw fuck. Don't make me feel awkward now. "Shut up, it's really not like that. I mean, your cousin's popular!"

And then he said something but I don't quite remember because I was too busy staring into his crystal blue eyes and then looking down at his amazing lips. Seriously, he's so hot. I don't think I can say that enough. Like so ridiculously good looking.

But I snapped out of it and continued my conversation with him. And 5 minutes of talking turned into about like a few hours. A few hours of conversation and drinks. Cole joined us, but left. Then Matt came around. But in the end it was just me and him. Talking about I don't even know what anymore.

He didn't have that many, but I had a couple which made me drunk since I had already had a couple before that. And my God, I was for sure feeling it.

"I'm soooo tired."

Troy chuckled, "Maybe you should get home."

I looked down at my phone and realized that it was 1:30. Fuck maybe I should. I then remembered I don't have my ride situated. And I'm drunk. What is a girl to freaking do? Oh Martin! I remembered. I scrolled down my contacts and clicked on this name.

Bu he didn't answer. It went straight to voice mail. Dammit! He turned his phone off on purpose, that son of a bitch.

No, he's nice. I didn't mean to call him that. I'm just annoyed.

"Who are you calling?"

"My driver," I slur, "he's not answering though and it's making me sad because I'm tired and all my friends have ditched me... I think."

I scrolled down some more names and I didn't even really know what I was doing, I called a few people who I don't remember calling, but no one picked up. And I'm so annoyed because I want to just get home.

"Fuck."

Troy looked up at me and grabbed my drink out of my hand, "come on, I'll give you a ride home."

I was in. I didn't care how he got me home. To be honest, I can barely even see straight right now. So I followed him out, I think I said bye to Stacy and some other people then hopped in some car with him and got comfortable.

Seriously, I was so tired. I just wanted to get home already.


	3. Chapter 3

Ahhh, Dalton School.

Back at it. Except this year, I'm a senior. And this year really counts. I have to get into Brown. I mean, it's my only option.

"Gabriella!" Morgan calls my name from the center of the quad, "hurry, come here!"

I look around me, confused, as to why she's hurrying me but I can't quite figure it out. I put my bag down on top of the table and take a seat next to Cassie, "what's up? What are you guys doing?"

Morgan waves her hands, basically telling me to shut up, "Have you looked on Instagram today? Look!"

She hands me her phone and I'm prepared to roll my eyes because let's be honest, Morgan is the most dramatic and exaggerates like no other, but this, this took my by surprise. It was my ex boyfriend holding hands with some socialite and model at some party last night.

And it's not like I cared, but I mean, he's dating a model now? Total upgrade.

"I don't care," I handed her back her phone and dug into my purse to find mine, "he's moving on and that's great. So what if he's dating some model. Who is she, anyway? I don't know her."

Okay, maybe I sounded a little jealous, but I mean, he's dating a model! He's holding hands with a model in some picture that someone snapped. Meanwhile, here I am, alone. With no actor boyfriend. No model boyfriend. Ugh, he's won.

Morgan shook her head, "she's not even that pretty if you really look at her, total downgrade."

"Yeah, total downgrade," Cassie chimed in.

"I appreciate it guys," I tell them with a slight laugh, "but I'm fine. Seriously."

More than fine, actually. Well, okay, I'm lying a bit. It does bother me that he seems to be doing better in the dating pool than I am, but whatever, I'm going to take my time and find someone worth it. Not some model.

"You guys!" Savannah came rushing into the quad with some Starbucks in her hand, looking like she had totally important information, "major news!"

"What?" We all said in unison.

She put her bag down along with her coffee and scooted in next to Morgan, "Dalton has it's first new student in years and he's in our grade and he's, like, out of this world attractive. Seriously, so hot!"

"What? Who?" Cassie's ears perked up, "where's he from?"

Troy.

I couldn't help, but look around for him but caught no glimpse of him. Up until right now, I forgot he was coming here.

Well, I didn't totally forgot. I mean, I thought about it like all Saturday. Is every girl going to be fawning over him? Probably. Who's he going to fit in with? Am I going to end up liking this incredibly hot guy? Is there more to him than his looks? Am I going to hate him? Is he going to fit in, all at?

But then Sunday rolled around and I went shopping and had a nice dinner with my family and forgot all about him. Until now, of course. And it made me think back to that Friday night, early Saturday morning. It was all coming back to me again.

_"You don't have to take me home, you know," I tell him, putting my feet up in this limo, "you're not my boyfriend." _

_He looks at me and then just chuckles a bit, "you're drunk. How else are you possibly going to get yourself home?" Okay, yeah, whatever. _

_I rolled my eyes and looked out the window. If I wasn't super drunk right now, I'd know where we were and how much longer it'll take, but I can't think straight right now. I know who this guy is taking me home, but I forgot his name. And how this even came about. Stupid alcohol. _

_"Are you feeling okay?"_

_"Yes," I tell him, even though I'm not sure. _

_I know for sure I won't throw up. I don't throw up. Unless I'm SUPER hungover the next day, but that usually never happens. Like I said, I don't drink that much. I really don't even know why I'm drunk right now. _

_Getting drunk at really nice parties isn't my thing, but I guess it was long overdue or something. I don't know. _

_I had to stop looking out the window though because I was getting dizzy so I peeled my eyes off and looked back at this guy. Trevor? Trey? Ah one of those. _

_"How do you even know me?" I slurred. _

_He chuckled and rolled his sleeves up, "I don't, really, but you're a friend of my cousins." _

_His cousin? "Who?" _

_"Stacy," he answers and throws his arm over the seat, "Stacy Smith."_

_Oh right. Stacy Smith. I know her. I was just at her party. Yeah, okay, this is fine. I'm fine. Everything's going to be fine. "When am I getting home? I'm so tired and I just want to sleep in my comfortable bed." _

_He looked out the window and then back at me. "Approximately two minutes." _

_So I waited and waited. _

_And what seemed like forever later, he was helping me out of the limo and into my building. _

_"This isn't where I live," I tell him. "I live on Park." _

_He looks at me as if I'm going crazy or something and then looks around, frustrated, and I suddenly feel bad. "We are on Park and this is your place. Stacy gave me the address. Does this really not look familiar to you?" _

_I looked around, realizing I didn't even try to before, and yes, it looks familiar. "Sorry," I apologized. _

_"It's okay," he tells me, "um let's head in." _

_So we did and I said hi to the doorman, Craig, and I got a little carried away since I was drunk and I just started talking to him about my summer and then out of nowhere, I felt a hand on my back and he was pulling me away from Craig. _

_What the fuck. "Hey!" _

_"Look, I'm sorry," this guy who brought me home apologizes, "but I'm really trying to help you out before I get home." _

_Whatever. I cooperated and grabbed my bag from the chair I just put it down on and followed him to the elevator. One thing I never forget when I'm drunk is my floor number and the security code. So I punched it in and waited patiently with my eyes closed. _

_And then the doors opened up and I was in my place. _

_Trey, Trevor, whatever his name is, followed closely behind me and I'm pretty sure he was trying to take it all in. Yes, I'm filthy rich. But isn't everyone in the Upper East side? _

_I went straight to the kitchen and grabbed a bowl of grapes out of the refrigerator. "Do you want some?" _

_He shook his head, "Um, no, I have to get going, just making sure you got in safely." _

_How nice of him. I turned around and grabbed myself a water bottle and took out stuff to make myself a PB and J. I was starving. All that alcohol is making me so hungry and thank God this fridge is stocked or I'd probably cry right about now. Ha. _

_"Are you gonna be okay?" he asks me after I almost eat shit. _

_I laughed it off and threw off my heels, "Yeah yeah, sure, I will." _

_But he didn't move for a second. He was just watching me as I took everything out and prepared to make my sandwich. And before I knew it, he was pushing me out of the kitchen and taking over for me, grabbing the peanut butter and smearing it all over the sandwich. _

_"Hey!" _

_He turned to me and shook his head, "you pretty much almost just cut yourself. I got it." _

_What? "No, I didn't, I'm fine!" _

_"You were using a steak knife to try to smear peanut butter, I don't think you're fine. It's okay, I got it," he tells me and so I don't argue anymore with him and just sit down and wait for my sandwich. _

_He hands it to me and then starts putting everything away as I bite into it. And oh my gosh, it's sooooo good. "Where did you learn to cook so well?"_

_He turned around and shook his head and couldn't help but let out a small smile, "just eat your sandwich so you could sober up." _

_"Oh, I'm so fine," I tell him, putting my hands in the air, but I only contradicted myself since I almost fell out of my seat, "yeah, yeah, I'm fine, don't worry about it." _

_Again, he laughed and shook his head, "Where are your parents?" _

_I shrugged and I licked some excess peanut butter off the crust, "Who knows, probably at some fancy schmancy party." _

_And then he looked right into my eyes and I looked into his and the only thing I wanted to do right now is kiss the shit out of him. Run my hands through his hair and kiss him so hard. _

_Who was he again, though? Do I know him? _

_Whatever, he broke contact and apologized for I don't know what and then kept asking me if I was going to be okay. And yes, I will. I'm almost 18 years old, there's security everywhere. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be just fine here. _

_It seemed like he was in a hurry to get home but now, I don't know what changed, but he's sitting here talking to me asking if I'm going to be okay. _

_YES. I AM GOING TO BE OKAY! _

_"Do you need anything else?" he asks me, getting up and putting the milk away. _

_I shake my head and get off my seat and head over to the living room where I immediately rest my head on my pillow. And fall asleep. _

"Gabriella!"

I snap out of it and realize that Char has now joined us. "What?"

Char looks at me weirdly and knows something is up, but doesn't know what exactly, obviously. "Are you okay? You seem out of it," she points out, "we were talking about the new guy. Thought you'd be interested."

Oh I'm very much interested to see what's going to happen, but right now, I have to get going. "Yeah, yeah, I saw him. He's hot. But I have to go get my schedule. I didn't on the way in."

They all shrugged and looked fine with it so I grabbed my purse and raced out of the quad and to the front of the school.

I grabbed my schedule and as I headed back into school, I ran into Troy.

Literally.

"I'm so sorry," I apologized to him, picking up his schedule that fell to the floor and examined it really quickly before handing it back to him.

He takes it back and gives me a small smile, "it's okay, glad to see you're sober."

Oh my gosh. Embarrassing. So embarrassing. But then minute I looked into his eyes, I forgot about being embarrassed and remembered the sweet note he left for me to wake up to.

_Gabriella, _

_You seemed awfully uncomfortable on the couch so thought I'd bring you to your room. At least I hope it's your room. But it has pictures of you, so.  
_

_Anyway, I hope you feel better in the morning, but if you have a hangover like I imagine you will, go get the best huevos rancheros in town and go at 'em along with some hashbrows and sausages. Works every time. Trust me. The greasier, the better.  
_

_Hope to see you at school. _

_Troy_

He didn't have to leave me any type of note, but the fact that he did and he made sure I got home safely, ahh major points. Everything's coming back to me now. That night. What happened. I went to a party, drank way more than I should, talked to him, he took me home and we talked some more and yeah.

I shouldn't have drank so much. I don't know why I did.

"It's school," I laugh, "I'm not going to come drunk, although some people do."

"Wouldn't doubt it," he laughed along with me.

And then there was silence. He was looking down at his schedule and I took the opportunity to look down at mine as well. I knew we had English together since I did sneak a peek at his schedule. And English was the first class of the day, so...

He looked back up at me and looked a bit embarrassed, "Do you know where room 102 is?"

I smiled at him and nodded, "Follow me."

* * *

"Hi, sweetie, how was your day?" my mom asks me as she's cutting up some onions alongside our maid, Lupe.

Lupe was all sorts of wonderful and has been in my life since I was 5 years old. Seriously, I tell her everything- whether she wants to hear it or not. And she gives me advice and is the cutest person in the world.

She's in her late 50's and speaks broken English, but understands every single obnoxious thing that comes out of my mouth. She's family. She cooks for us, she cleans, she makes sure we go to appointments, that everything is in tact. She's just the best and our life wouldn't function without her. Honestly.

"It was fine," I set my bag down on one of the chairs and go around and grab a vitamin water from the fridge, "I have Mrs. Berry for English."

"Oh wonderful!" my mom claps her hands after setting down the knife, "she's the best."

"Do you want me to cut you up some fruit?"

I shake my head at Lupe and go over and take a seat around the island, "I'm fine, I just went and grabbed a parfait with Savannah before coming up here, actually, so I'm a little full."

Lupe nods and goes over to the refrigerator and takes out a bag of shrimp. Oh my gosh, we're having ceviche. Ahhh, my favorite!

"Ahh Lupe, your ceviche is just what I need right now!"

She laughs and opens the bag and dumps it in a bowl so she could wash it.

My mom looks up and furrows her eyebrows, "Hey! I'm helping out, too, you know..."

I looked at Lupe and then we both started laughing. My mom is the worst cook. She's Mexican, well, half Mexican but she just can't cook to save her life. She's tried and she's tried and she's tried, with Lupe's help of course, and nope. Nothing works. So now she just helps Lupe out which is what we all prefer.

"Oh, Gabriella!" Lupe exclaims, throwing her hands up in the air.

"What?"

She dries her hands on her apron and then disappears for a minute or so and when she comes back, she'd holding an ID which she shows to me mom, "Josh said this isn't any of his friends so was wondering if it is your friends."

I grabbed the ID and right away smiled to myself. Even his ID picture is fucking hot. How is that possible?

"Whose is it?"

"Oh, just a friends," I tell my mom as I shoved it into my purse, "he left it here the other night."

"The other night?" her tone changes, "why did you have a boy up here the other night when we were out of town? You know the rules, Gabriella."

Ugh. I was drunk, okay?

But I don't know if I wanted to tell her that. "He didn't stay, okay? He made sure I got home from Stacy's party fine and then I don't really know exactly what happened, but I guess he dropped his ID or something? I don't know."

My mom gave me a look and I knew she wasn't fully convinced. "Mom! I barely know the guy. Look at his ID, it's a Chicago ID, he just moved here. No way is something going to happen with a guy I don't even know. He's Stacy's cousin."

"Fine," she tells me after taking a look, "but still, you shouldn't just invite anyone up here."

"I was drunk, okay?" I tell her so she'd cut me some slack, "I didn't know what was really going on."

My mom shook her head, "how many times have I told you to not drink? I know you're going to do it, but you're not even 18 years old, it's not right even if you have access to it. You're my little baby."

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. "I don't do it often. Just when we go out to certain parties or when we're here, bored. I don't know."

"So who's this guy? He's pretty attractive," she cracks a smile, "don't you think, Lupe?"

Lupe looks up from washing the shrimp and her eyes widen as if it's a trick question which made us all laugh. "Oh yes Mrs. Montez, he is very attractive boy."

Gah, Lupe's the cutest with her little accent. I just love her.

"Where's dad?"

"Taking a nap," my mom tells me as she puts her cut onions into a bowl with tomatoes and cucumbers, "he's had a long day and the Millers are coming over for dinner so he thought he should get his rest."

"Right," I roll my eyes. We didn't usually have company over on weekdays, but ugh, I didn't want to dine with the Millers. They had this obnoxious son and I'm praying he doesn't tag along. "I'm only staying for the food portion and then I'm out of there."

My mom laughs, "fine. But be nice. I know Greg could be a little out there, but you know he likes you so be nice."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I tell her before grabbing my bag and walking out.

I was really only excited for the ceviche.


	4. Chapter 4

"Troy!"

He turned around and of course his blue eyes glistened, "What's up?"

Oh, nothing, you're just really hot. I couldn't say that, though, obviously. "Um, I think you dropped this at my house the night you brought me home," I hand him his ID, "I found it yesterday."

He grabbed it and laughed, "Oh my gosh, I was looking everywhere for this. Good thing I don't drive here."

I chuckled and nodded, not really knowing what to say. "yeah, sorry I didn't find it sooner."

"Oh no, don't worry about it," he tells me before he starts walking, but not away. "I haven't really needed to use it."

I'm now on his side and we're side by side walking to class since we do have first period together, "what were you doing that you dropped it? Wasn't it in your wallet?" I was curious as to why exactly it was at my house.

He looked over at me and smiled, "Yeah, um, I guess when I was leaving you a note. You have such a big place, yet I couldn't find a piece of paper and for some reason, I had some in my wallet so yeah."

Now that I think about it, there are no notepads laying around. And I'm sure he didn't want to snoop. "Oh okay, got it."

We got to English class and took a seat, him in front of me, me directly behind him.

"Okay, class," Mrs. Berry said as she walked in with some coffee in hand and a briefcase in the other, "the first day is over so now it's time to get to business and since this isn't like a regular high school English class, guess what?"

"What?" the class answered in unison, even though I think it was a rhetorical question.

"Your first project starts today," she smirked, "it's easy, but a little demanding. Let me pass our the criteria and papers before I explain it."

So she did. She passed out a few papers and everyone groaned, but me. I actually loved projects. Way better than just reading a textbook and answering questions. Or reading a book and having to discuss. I have no idea what she wants us to do, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I love projects.

We went over it and once we realized it was a group project, some kids groaned some more and others cheered.

It didn't matter to me. I liked working alone, but I could get something done with someone else or a group of people as well.

"It says groups," Mrs. Berry picked up a paper and started reading along with us, "but that's from last year and I didn't have a chance to change it. It didn't really go as planned last year so I'm switching it up. Max three people. But I'd prefer only two that way the work is shared equally. It'd be a little harder to share it was three people since it's not that much. You have until October 4th. A month. I don't care when you do it as long as it's in my hands by that day and no later. Got it?"

I looked around the room at who can be my partner. Courtney Leal would be fine, but I realized she's probably going to partner with Sadie. And then I look over to Matilda, but eh, changed my mind right away about that. She talks WAY too much.

And then Troy coughed which got my attention.

Troy. He could be my partner. He doesn't know anyone in this class I don't think. Maybe I should just offer. It won't be weird, or like I'm hitting on him, right? Maybe he'll just think I'm trying to be nice. I hope it'll come off like that. Well, it's both I want to spend some time with him AND I feel bad he doesn't really know anyone here.

"Does everyone understand?" Mrs. Berry says, "okay, pick your partner or partners."

I have no idea what she said, but I'm sure I can just look over the paper and figure it out myself.

And once she said that, everyone scrambled to find someone, but I stayed in my seat, took a deep breath and then tapped Troy on the shoulder. He turned around and once again, I was taken back by his blue eyes. Ugh.

"Want to be my partner?"

I think he was a little taken aback by me asking, but I also think he was in no position to say no since he doesn't really know anyone in this class, "Yeah, um, sure, sounds good."

It definitely sounds good. "Wanna come over after school? We can get started, unless you're busy of course then tomorrow works as well."

He shook his head, "No, um, today's good. Right after?"

"Yeah, you can just ride home with me," I tell him and then grab a piece of paper and cut off a piece of it and quickly jot down my number, "I'll be out front by the steps, but if you can't find me after, just give me a call."

"Sure, thanks," Troy grabbed the piece of paper and then quickly programmed my number into his phone in case he lost the piece of paper later. "I can only stay a couple of hours, though. I'm having dinner with my aunt and uncle tonight."

No, yeah. Of course. The Smiths are very important people with so many events going on all the time. "I think that'll be enough time."

A couple hours with Troy after school? Um, I'd take five minutes, so yeah, I'm okay with him only staying a couple hours.

"Cool."

* * *

"I'm going out," my brother Josh tells me as he passes Troy and I on the way to the elevator.

"Wait," I call after him, "this is Troy, he's new here."

Josh turns around and looks confused. Did he seriously not see him? "Oh, hey man," he extends his hand, "nice to meet you, I'm Josh. Welcome to New York, hope you like it."

That's my brother. A nice, friendly guy.

Troy shook his hand and said thank you, "so far, so good."

Josh nodded and then turned to me, "mom and dad are at that event, I don't know what time they'll be home, but yeah, I'm going out."

Okaaay. I knew that already. But whatever, I told him to have fun with whatever he was doing and then turned around and headed to the kitchen. Lupe had out a tray of fruit and bless her heart, I was so craving some watermelon and here is it.

"Want some?" I offered.

Troy put his books down and took a couple strawberries, "how old's your brother?"

I swallowed my watermelon and went over to the fridge and grabbed myself and him a couple of water bottles before answering him, "He's a junior, so 16? Almost 17. Yeah, he's turning 17."

"Oh, cool," he says and then takes a seat around the island, "nice place you got here."

"Thanks," I tell him a bit embarrassed. It's an awful big place for a family of four, but like I have a say in where I live.

"What?" he chuckles, sensing something's up.

I shake my head, "No, nothing. I just get uncomfortable when people say that sometimes. Like it's sometimes too big of a place and I'm like, what are we even doing here? Why don't we live in a three bedroom apartment?"

He looks like he doesn't believe me and that's a little heartbreaking because I never want to come off like some preppy stuck up princess. But the truth is, I'm very privileged and I'm very blessed, but it's not my fault. I don't shove it in people's faces. I don't try to at least. Especially since everyone around me is in the same boat pretty much. But Troy, he's from Chicago. He's probably not used to this. People having people drive them around everywhere. Or having your own driver, being picked up whenever you want to, having a maid. I don't know. And I really hope he's not judging me because honestly, I'm pretty normal.

And to make things worse, Lupe pops up holding a hamper full of towels, "Oh Gabriella, I didn't hear you come in. Do you want me to make you some food?"

Troy looked over at Lupe and he didn't look completely taken back by this. I mean, he's living with Stacy Smith. The Smiths have like three maids. He can't possibly judge me if his own family lives like this.

"I'm okay, Lupe, thank you," I tell her and then turn to him, "do you want something?"

He shakes his head, "no, thanks."

I give him a small smile and then turn to Lupe, "this is Troy, we're gonna be working on a project."

Troy gets up and goes over to her and sticks his hand out to shake her hand, "Nice to meet you, Lupe."

Lupe looks all flustered which is SO adorable to watch. She's married. She has 4 kids and is even a grandma. And is the cutest little Mexican woman in the whole world and she's getting shy and embarrassed in front of this hot 17 year old. It's SO funny and so adorable. Ah, I love her so much.

"Nice to meet you, too," she pauses to smile, "Troy."

Troy smiles at her and then takes a seat back around the island. I look over at Lupe and she's blushing so she quickly grabs the hamper and goes to fold the towels in the bathroom.

I couldn't help, but laugh when she left the room. "She's the best."

"She's cute."

I know he means in like an old lady way so I'm not jealous whatsoever. Ha. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? I can whip you up something. Like a quesdilla or a sandwich, I don't know."

Again, he looks a little taken aback. Oh my gosh, does he think I have Lupe do everything around here? No way. She's not like a typical maid. She's more of like a friend. A grandma. If she's putting her feet up, I don't bother her to make me food. And right now, she's folding towels so I'm not going to bother her.

"Okay, fine," he gives, "that sounds good, actually."

So I make him a quesadilla with some chicken, cheese and some guac and also give him a little bit of salsa on the side that Lupe made the day before and he eats it in like less than a minute.

"So good," he smiles at me, "I might ask for another one soon, if that's not a problem."

"Of course not," I tell him, putting the cheese away, "I'll just leave everything else out then."

And then we transitioned to the living room and got to work on the project. And by that, I mean we really got to work. Maybe he wanted to finish up and get out of there or maybe it just came to him, but he was on a roll with ideas and what to do and before I knew it, a couple of hours had passed.

He looked at his phone and realized it was 4:30. "Shit, I better get going."

"How are you going to leave?" I ask since he did come home with me, "do you want a ride or something?"

"Nah, I can walk," he says as if it's not a big deal.

I laugh because it's cute at how unfamiliar he is with New York still. "Stacy's is like so many blocks away, you'll get there in like an hour." Okay, I'm kinda exaggerating, but it isn't the closest and it'll take at least 25 minutes to get there if he walks.

He looked like he was in a pickle.

So I helped him out. "Martin will take you, he'll have no problem doing so."

"Nah, I don't wanna make him do that," he put some papers in his folder, "really, I can call Stacy or get a taxi, or just walk. It's not a big deal."

"But he's literally right there for our use. It's like using a taxi," I argue back, trying to not make it seem like a big deal, "come on, let's go." I get up and grab my purse and he quickly follows me to the elevator.

We ride down together and he looks a bit uncomfortable. But like, how else is he going to get home? It's seriously not a problem at all and I want to stop by Savannah's place anyway to pick up a pair of shoes and she lives by Stacy so it's not a big deal.

And once we get into the car, he looks over at me and gives me a small smile. And I think everything's okay again.

Thank God.


	5. Chapter 5

"Hi, Lupe," my mother tells her as she walks in with my dad trailing behind, "how are things?"

Lupe smiled at her as she cleaned off the counters, "Good. Gabriella had friend over and did project and I just made enchiladas."

My dad took off his jacket and threw it over his arms, "Enchiladas? My favorite. You're the best, Lupe," he comes over to the table I'm sitting at going over some of the syllabuses for class and gives me a kiss on the head.

"Hey, dad."

"What are you doing?" he asks, looking down at the papers, "where's Josh?"

"I think he went over to Mark's and they were going to grab some food or something, I'm not quite sure."

He went over to the kitchen and about five minutes later, him and my mom came and joined me at the table with a plate of enchiladas for each and a glass of wine. I already had some so I was just going to sit here and watch them eat. Not literally.

My dad dug right into his food while my mom took her sweet time, as usual. Unlike most teenagers, I actually enjoy spending time with my family.

"So how's school so far?" my dad asks me.

"Eh," I shrug, "school's school. I already can't wait to get out of there and head to Rhode Island."

"Brown," he smiles, "my alma mater, which I'm sure you're going to love as well. We need to take a trip down there soon, I want to show you all around and introduce you to some of my favorite professors."

My mom coughs and we both look her way, "Or we can head over to Yale and introduce you to some of my favorite professors."

Ahh torn between two schools. Not really, Brown has always been my dream school. Ever since I was ten. My dad took me there and I fell IN LOVE with in and hearing all the stories from there made me want to go even more. My mom went to Yale so she's trying to push that on me, but my mind's already set on Brown, but maybe she can have better luck with my brother since he hasn't really decided where he wants to go yet.

"Elizabeth, please," my dad says, "don't interrupt us."

My mom laughs and roll her eyes as my dad turns back to me, "Seriously. I know I've been saying, but I have the itch to go sometime soon."

I wanna go, too. "No, yeah, whenever you want. Any weekend you can."

He takes out his phone and looks at his calendar, "Hmm let's see. We have that brunch. Your mom and I actually have to go to Paris for a few days soon and check on things over there and have dinner with a potential business partner. We have your grandma's birthday, that charity dinner in Boston. Hmm let's just plan for like in a month? Is that okay?"

"Sure," I shrug, "I don't think I have anything going on in about a month." Yeah, I don't think I do.

"Perfect," my dad puts his phone down and goes right back into eating his enchiladas.

"So you and mom are going to Paris?" I put my papers away in my folder and push it off to the side, "for how long? And thanks for the invite, by the way, I've been wanting to go back."

My mom put her glass of wine down and shook her head, "you're in school, you can't miss already. We're leaving on a Thursday and coming back Monday."

"Yeah," my dad agrees with her, "we're just gonna head over there, check on the hotel, how things are going, and have dinner with Charles Davenport who is interested in doing business with me. He owns a couple of restaurants in Paris, so we'll see."

"He's in the restaurant business?" I'm confused. "but you're in the hotel business. That doesn't even make sense."

My dad chuckles as he takes a bite of his food, "Gabriella, I'm a businessman, and yes owning hotels is my primary business, but he's talking about bringing his restaurant to New York and he needs a co-owner, someone to manage it when he can't be in town so yeah, it's all the same."

I mean, if he says so. Who am I to tell him? He's the one who has s made millions doing what he does. "No, yeah, yeah, you're right. I was just confused."

They continued eating and I saw back and just watched while they laughed over some thing that happened today while they were out.

And I couldn't help, but just smile.

I didn't have the typical New York parents. Nope. I had the best parents. And this isn't to offend people in New York, but typically, if you're living here in the Upper East Side specifically, chances are your parents are rich and successful. And rich and successful means they're out at dinners and functions every single night. They're out closing deals, getting chummy with people who could get them one step further in life. All that jazz.

But my dad and mom? No. They're into that, but to a certain extent.

Four nights a week, they're home and having dinner with us. No if, and or but's about it. Occasionally, they can't get out of things and that's totally fine, it's understandable, but for the most part, they try to be home. Not because they feel like they have to, but because they want to.

And Lupe? Well, she gets every single weekend off. My brother and I grew up here but my parents didn't and so they don't want us to be total brats.

They had a normal childhood and their parents worked hard for everything they had and they're doing the same but on a much larger scale, but they're still parents any kid would typically have whether we live here or the worst part in town.

I never take anything for granted, it might seem that way sometimes because you can't help but get caught up, but nope. I'm very thankful and grateful for every single thing I have.

"I'm gonna go take a shower and then probably go to bed," I get up.

"Okay, sweetie," my mom tells me as she reaches for her wine, "oh! I gave Martin the day off tomorrow since he has to take his daughter to the doctors."

"That's fine," I smile at her. See what I mean? Most people in New York don't have time for that. They'd tell them to take them when they're off the clock. Not my gem of a mom. "I'll take a taxi. Or I'll have Savannah pick me up or something."

She smiled at me and so did my dad and then I was off to take a shower.

"Goodnight, Lupe," I tell her as she's putting on her coat. It's 7 o'clock. She stayed a little later than usual today, but it was time for her to go home now.

"Night Gabriella," she tells me, "I will see you tomorrow."

I went to my bathroom, turned on the shower, blasted some music and then thirty minutes later, I was snuggled in bed with a good book. But all I really wanted to do was text Troy and talk to him. And it was so crazy. I've only known him for a few days.

Why can't I stop thinking about him? Ahhhh.

* * *

"How are you and Will?"

Savannah looked up from her phone and smiled before putting it down, "Oh, we're good."

Yeah, I can tell by that smile. "Are you bringing him to the brunch on Saturday?" I go over to my closet and pick out a couple of dress, "speaking of, I need your help. I don't know what to wear to that so I'm glad you're here."

She got up from my bed and came over to my closet, "I'm not sure. We're not really official yet and it's invite only so I don't know, will it be weird?"

"Well it's invite only, but he'll go with you and your family's invited so why not?" I tell her, "bring him. It'll be nice."

William is a really nice guy, but he doesn't go to our school so he's not really in with our crowd and his parents aren't involved in the same circle as our parents so I guess it's a little weird for her.

She shrugged, "I'll see. I don't want to move too fast. He hasn't even met my parents so I have to think about it and talk to them."

"Yeah, yeah, of course," I completely understand, "I don't even want to go to this brunch, but it's a family thing. Thank God you and Morgan will be there."

Savannah laughed and pulled out a white Burberry dress, "this, you have to wear this. It's perfect for brunch. And your white Manolo pumps, the pointed toes ones, do an all white thing. That would be SO cute! And so very appropriate."

I think about it for a minute and that's really all I need because it does sound really cute. I grabbed the dress from her and quickly put it on. And then went inside my closet and grabbed the heels she was talking about. "So on a scale of 1-10, how much do you like Will?"

"Maybe like an 8 right now," she chuckled to herself, "I don't know. Maybe a 10. I really am trying not to rush too fast because he's really nice, G."

"He is," I tell her. I've met him a few times at social gatherings and he was always nice.

I walked over to my full length mirror once I had the outfit on to check it out. And Savannah was right. It definitely looks like brunch attire. And I was so happy I was getting my outfit out of the way.

"You look hot," she squeals.

"Thanks," I laugh, looking at her through the mirror, "so, this is it?"

She nods, "that's it. You so pull off white, you know. Gah, you're so lucky," she turns around and grabs her phone from my dresser, "do we know what Morgan's wearing? I know she was stressing about it a few days ago. I haven't talked to her about it since, though."

I shrug, "No, I don't. But I'm sure she'll find something."

This brunch isn't just any brunch that happens all the time in NYC. Nope. It's a brunch for Frank Dillard's foundation and only the crem of la crem go. The most important people in New York. And their families. It's a way to come together as a family and show people what you're made of. My family doesn't go to show off, we go to support the foundation, but it doesn't hurt to you know, have everyone see what a wonderful family we are together.

"So, G," Savannah hops on my bed and grabs the nearest magazine next to her on my nightstand, "what about you? Any guys you got your eye on?"

Oh fuck. I haven't told anyone about my tiny little itty bitty crush on Troy Bolton.

Mainly because it's WAAAY too early to tell if I even do like him. It's been like barely a week, we haven't hung out except for Tuesday to work on our project, but it's now Thursday and we've had minimal contact and so I don't know. It's too soon to tell.

And also, I really don't want to put it out there in case nothing happens. "I'm just worried about getting into Brown."

"Oh please," Savannah rolls her eyes, "you're for sure getting in there, you've had straight A's since you were five and you're in, like, so many clubs. You're a she in and you know it. You're dad's an alumni! An important one!"

Maybe. "You can never be so sure."

Savannah sighed and put down the magazine, "Ryan's moved on. Let's find you a boyfriend, shall we? Or just some guy to have fun with."

Oh no, no, no. Once Savannah thinks about doing that, she actually does it. And I definitely don't want whoever she's going to get me, which will probably be some rich kid from school who has half a brain.

Dammit. I'm going to have to tell her. "Actually, I might be crushing on someone."

"WHO?" her eyes widened, "tell me right now, Gabriella Elizabeth Montez."

"Umm the new guy," I hang my dress up on my mirror, "Troy, Stacy's cousin. He's um, he's in my English class and my partner on a project, so I don't know, we've hung out a little bit."

I definitely left the part out where he brought me home because she'll be mad about that even though he didn't try anything. She's always telling me to never let someone take me home. That there are a lot of disgusting guys here, but whatever. I was drunk. It was a mistake. Whatever.

Her eyes widened a little bit and she cracked a smile, "Troy Bolton? Wow. I mean, he's hot, but I never thought you'd actually like him."

"Why not?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "I know you and I know you're this down to earth chick, but let's be real, it's hard to be here and every single guy you've dated has some kind of status. Ryan? His dad is the freaking mayor. Tyler? His parents only own the most prestigious bar in the city. Whether you like it or not, you're drawn to those types of guys and Troy Bolton is so... normal."

And that's why I like about him. He has this innocence about him and I need that. I need a normal guy. Not these New York guys who think they can do and say whatever they want.

Troy's from Chicago. A simple city. And he's a simple guy. "I mean, he's Stacy Smith's cousin."

Savannah shook her head, "No one cares about Ryan's cousin, Blake," she points out, "I'm just saying, people expect more from you, but if you're into him..."

I am sort of into him. At least I think I can be if I spend more time with him. But who even knows if he's into me. And I don't care about his status, how much money he has, how much money he doesn't have. Honestly. I just want to get to know him better.

"I don't know," I tell her just so we could get off the subject.

But even though we were off it, it doesn't mean I stopped thinking about him.


	6. Chapter 6

"Isn't that against the rules?"

I jumped a bit and turned around, carrying this plate of food, to be met with Troy Bolton. "What?"

He chuckled a bit and leaned over and grabbed himself a plate, "Sorry, I don't know why I said that, like you'll even get it. It's dumb."

"No, tell me."

"You have two waffles on your plate," he points out, "it's a dumb joke, really. I just haven't really seen people eat that much here." Ohhhh, okay, I get it. Ha. Yeah, it's kinda funny. But that doesn't really apply to me.

"Oh, I eat," I laugh and turn back around and add some bananas and strawberries on top of the waffles, "that's funny, though."

He shakes his head, "it was dumb."

Maybe a little bit. But I'm not mad about it. We're talking. I had a feeling he'd be there because the Smiths are at everything, but I didn't know for sure since he's not a Smith, he's a Bolton and he doesn't have an obligation to come, you know? Plus, this really isn't his scene, I think. I mean, he's dressed for it, but you can tell it's not his usual scene but he's not really that dressed for it, if you know what I mean. Ha.

"Where's Stacy?"

"She's actually sick," he tells me grabbing a biscuit, "which is why I'm here. My aunt paid for four seats, so."

Oh, right, I forgot about that. Even if he wanted to come, if Stacy wasn't sick, he probably wouldn't be able to. You have to RSVP to this thing. "Oh, well, I'm sure you're thrilled about it."

He laughed as he moved along in line behind me, "Hey, free food? It's not too bad."

"True," I get out of line since I pretty much got everything I wanted already and just waited off to the side until he was done grabbing his food.

And when he was, he joined me and we walked back to the tables. "Where are you sitting?"

I looked around, forgetting where I was and then spotted my brother chomping away on his food, "Right over there," I point to a table that is in the sort of back, but not really, "what about you?"

"I'm over there," he pointed to the same area but a few tables over and a little in front.

"Have fun," I tell him before walking away and joining my brother along with Morgan's family.

Last year, we actually got seated with the Smiths so I'm a little bummed that, that wasn't the case this year. It would have been perfect. I could have talked to Troy throughout the whole thing without feeling like I actually wanted to, you know? It would have felt more of just mingling with everyone but ugh.

Oh well.

We all eat and then there's a presentation, a speech, whatever, same old boring things that take place at this event.

And throughout the whole thing, I steal glances at Troy. He's never looking, but I don't stare for too long just in case he does decide to look up. That would have been totally embarrassing.

But I decide to look over again, and this time, he's actually already looking at me. And the minute our eyes lock, he gives me a small smile before looking away. And oh my gosh, it made my heart flutter. He was looking at me before I was even looking at him. But on the flip side, he caught me staring.

I don't even care, though, because we had a moment.

It was definitely a moment, right? I mean, I felt my heart flutter, my cheeks grew red. He smiled at ME. And it just felt different.

"Who do you keep looking at?" my brother leans in and whispers to me.

"What?" I turned to him, "no one, why?" Fuuck. He caught me and I know he's not going to let it go because my brother is nosy and he loves to pry in my personal life, which most of the time, I don't even care. He's my brother. We're close. But I seriously have nothing to tell and it's embarrassing.

I'm pretty much into a guy and I have no idea if he's interested in me. How embarrassing.

My brother wasn't buying it, obviously. "Is it that new guy that you brought to the house the other day?"

Oh yeah, they've met. Fuck.

"It's nothing," I tell him, grabbing some grapes off my plate and plopping them in my mouth, "he's just hot so why wouldn't I look at him?" Ha, Gabriella, that's such a stupid answer. Whatever, though.

"You get crushes on guys pretty fast," he points out which is true, "so I'm not surprised you're into the new guy."

"It's not like I want to date him, I just, he's hot, okay?" I've said that already, but whatever, "and we're working on a project together, he's in my English class. We're sort of friends. I don't know. Plus, he's not from here. Why not make him feel welcomed?"

My brother laughed and shook his head, "I mean, if you say so."

Yeah, I do say so.

I grabbed some more plates and then discreetly looked back over to his table, but he was gone. Fuck. Where did he go?

Yep. I was gonna go look for him. "I'll be right back," I tell my brother.

* * *

"No, yeah, we can go out tonight," I tell Charlotte over the phone, "where were you thinking?"

I didn't search for Troy for that long. Maybe a minute, but he was nowhere to be found. And on my way back, Charlotte called me so I stepped out to the garden to talk to her for a minute.

She was having a hair crisis so of course she called her best gal pal. But now that I talked her through it, we're talking about plans for tonight.

And going out sounds like fun, "I mean, we can just do dinner Carlyle and then head over to the Pony Bar if you want or we can just come back to my place and just hang out. I'm down for whatever. Okay, yeah, call Cassie and let me know. Okay, yeah, bye..."

I hung up my phone and checked my texts really quick. I had a few. Two from Savannah and one from Cassie.

And then I turned around to get back in there and I saw Troy standing in the walkway.

"Hi."

"Hey," he puts his hands in his pockets, "taking a break?"

I put my phone back in my purse and shrugged, "No, I was just talking to Char." And then I realized I don't know if he knows who that is so I corrected myself, "um, my friend."

He nodded and walked in further so I backed up a little bit, "I was walking back in and I saw you out here, thought I'd ask what you were doing."

"Ohhh yeah, um," I try my best not to let my big mouth tell him that I was actually wondering where he was, "my friend called and so yeah, also I guess just getting some fresh air. It was getting a little bit stuffy in there."

"It was," he agreed, "is this thing almost over?"

I laughed and grabbed his wrist since he had a watch and saw that it was almost 1. "Just about, I think."

He chuckled and smiled at me, I think finding it a bit funny that I just borrowed his wrist for a second. But if he knew me, he'd know I'm kind of a straight forward person. If this was any other person, I'm pretty sure I'd just straight up flirt with them. But I don't know. I'm scared he'll reject me. He's not from here. He's not one of us. I honestly don't know what he thinks of me and I really, really do not want to ask and be disappointed with the answer. Ugh.

"I'm ready to get out of here."

"Me, too," I agreed, leaning against the rail, looking out into beautiful NYC. God, I loved this city so freaking much.

"You want to?" he asked me, turning towards me a bit, "I mean, it's almost over, right? Why don't we just sneak out the back?"

Okay, um, he's definitely not from here. I can't just sneak out. Well, it is almost over so I guess I could, but I've never done that. And I have no idea what my parents would say about it. If they'll be upset or mad. But seriously, all the people I needed to see and talk to, I've already talked to. So why not?

Should I? Or should I not? "I kinda do."

Troy turned his back to the scenery and started making his way towards the exit, "Let's go. Maybe catch a movie or something. Or get some more food."

I'm always down to eat. And I'm always down to watch movies. It was two of my favorite things.

So I followed him out, but not before sending Morgan and my brother a quick text message saying I left. And only my brother knew what I could possibly be doing. I'll explain it to Morgan later.

Because right now, we're racing down the stairs trying to get out of here.

And we do.

And I'm so excited. I'm hanging out with Troy Bolton. This is exactly what I wanted.

* * *

"Wait, how have you not seen Casablanca? It's only one of the greatest movies of all time."

I giggled as I bit into my ice cream, "I don't know, I just haven't."

Troy shook his head and also took a bite of his ice cream as we walked back to my place, "That movie is a classic, you NEED to watch it."

This is probably the part where I should tell him that I'll watch it and he should bring it over sometime, but I don't want to make it too obvious that I'm sort of feeling him, you know? I'm already waaay too giggly around him and that's probably freaking him out but I can't help it.

"I will," I tell him, "maybe."

"No," he shakes his head, "one of these days, I'm bringing it over and we're watching it, I don't care what you say."

AHHH. Well, obviously I'm not going to say no! And thank God he was the one who said this, not me. But I'm not sure if it's because he wants to hang out or if he really wants me to watch the movie.

I'm getting the feeling that he just wants to watch the movie because he looked pretty taken aback when I mentioned I haven't seen it, so... Ha.

"Fine, whatever," I laugh and I look over across the street and see Ryan Fitzgerald.

My ex boyfriend Ryan.

Is this really happening to me? Like is he seriously across the street right now?

Troy stopped walking because I stopped walking and then came back to me and looked over where I was looking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I shake my head and keep walking, "nothing."

"Do you know him?"

Do I know him? Ha. I only dated him on and off for the past two years, have been friends with him for much longer and he decided to dump me and go out with older girls who had so much more to offer in this city. But whatever, at least he didn't cheat, right? That's the way I'm looking at it. He had the decency to call if off before. Well, that's what he told me, anyway. Who really knows. But it's a complicated situation and I don't want to get into it right now.

I shrug, "ex boyfriend. No big deal."

Troy didn't say much else, he just bit into his ice cream and glanced over at Ryan a couple more times. "He looks like a douche, anyway."

I couldn't help, but laugh. It's not like I want him back but whenever I do see him, all these memories rush back. All the good memories that we've come to accumulate over the past two years. "Oh, completely."

Whatever, we passed him and soon enough weren't able to see him. Thank God.

"Can we stop by the bookstore really quick? I want to buy something."

"Yeah, sure," Troy tells me as he's about done with his ice cream cone, "what are you thinking of buying?"

"Gone girl," I take the last few bites of my ice cream as well, "they're making it into a movie and I really want to read the book before since the books are always better than the movies."

Troy nodded, "Yeah, completely. What way is it?"

I look around, figuring out exactly where we were and then I get close to the sidewalk and look for oncoming traffic. There was none, so I crossed the street and Troy closely followed behind. We walked up the block and then turned the corner and walked a little bit more until we hit it.

Ah I love bookstores. Savannah and I, who are the readers of the group, would come here ALL the time last year and just browse for hours.

"I found it," Troy yells at me from across the room after being there for about five minutes.

I walk over to him and quickly take it out of his hands and scan through it. It's hardcover and more than 200 pages. Ahh my favorite kind of books. And the cover of it just looks so... plain, but creepy. So good. I can't wait.

Troy looks around while I go and pay for it and when I'm done, he follows me out.

And we go right back to the path we were on to my house. It's 4:30 and I have to get home if I'm gonna go out with my friends.

But if I'm being honest with myself, I think I'd rather just hang out with Troy. But I don't know his plans and I don't even know if he wants to continue this hangout. Maybe it was purely because he wanted to get out of the brunch and I was the only person he really knew he could do that with. I don't know.

And I didn't care. At least I got to hang out with him.

We reached my building a little bit later and I was a bit bummed about it. It had been a wonderful afternoon full of talking, munching on popcorn, laughing throughout the movie.

I didn't want it to end, but obviously it has to sooner or later. I just wish it was later.

"Thanks for ditching the brunch and coming with me today."

"Oh an..." Fuck, I almost say anytime and I don't want to sound to desperate, so, um, "I wanted to get out of there as well so it was no problem."

He smiled at me and let out a small chuckle and I was worried he caught what I was going to actually say, but whatever. "I should get going, but um, have fun tonight with your friends."

How does he know about that? "What?"

"I overheard you in the garden," he reminds me, "Remember?"

Oh right, right. "I was seriously creeped out for a second," I laughed a little bit, "but um, yeah, thanks. I'll see you Monday?"

He smiled at me and nodded, "See you Monday."

And then he turned around and walked out the building but not before turning back around to give me one last smile. And when I turned around to head to the elevator, I was smiling. Big and cheesy and ahhh. I don't know if this is the beginning of anything or a one time hang out, but right now, I didn't care.

It was a perfect hang out. And that's more than okay with me right now.


	7. Chapter 7

"Gabriella!"

"What?" I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to Cassie who was apparently shouting at me.

She looked annoyed, "I just told a five minute story and you weren't even paying attention. What's up with you?!"

What's up with me? What's up with me is that I can't stop thinking about Troy and it's driving me absolutely crazy. This has never happened to me before. I've never been one of those girls that just sit here and think about a guy, but there's something different about him and it's just pulling me in.

And it's the most annoying thing, ever, because we're not a couple. We're not dating. I'm not even sure if he's interested in me.

I don't want to tell my friends this, though. Not yet, anyway. "Sorry."

"What's up?" Char asks, "you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I tell her grabbing my iced tea, "I just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Me neither!" Savannah chimes in, "and I am so tired but I did not want to miss coming here. Best pasta in all of New York."

I wanted to hang out with my friends. It's our first official dinner since we've all been back in the city. And I want to hear all about their lives, but it's hard to when your mind is on some guy you just hung out with. Some guy who opened every single door for me, bought us popcorn and walked me home instead of taking a taxi. It was like a date, but I knew it really wasn't. I'm not going to jump to conclusions. Especially with him out of all people.

If it was some guy that's been going to my school, oh yeah, for sure I'd think it was a date. But it was the new guy. He probably doesn't know many people yet to just hang out with. So, yeah, I'm not thinking too much of it. Unfortunately.

"Anyway, it was about that guy that Monique set me up with. We went out last night and I think I like him."

"That's great!"

Everyone was smiling about it and it's probably the perfect time to tell them I have a crush myself, but I chickened out and I don't know why.

It's not that I think they'll judge me for it. I just really don't want to seem like a loser if it doesn't work out. And that's insane because these girls are my best friends and I tell them absolutely everything, but holding on to guys hasn't always been my forte.

It's two dates max with every guy and the guys that do make it past that, we only ever last a couple of months. Ryan was an exception. And the reason..

Knowing my friends, though, they'll meddle and try to get things out of him and we're just not there yet. I want it to be right before telling them.

"Okay," Morgan takes out a notepad from her purse along with a pen, "my annual party for charity is coming up. Who should be on the guest list this year?"

"Everyone," Cassie replied, reaching for some bread, "it's for charity!"

Morgan rolled her eyes, "I know, but obviously I'm not going to invite, like, Lacy and her friends. I hate them. Or Robert and those guys. They're the most annoying guys, ever."

No, yeah, she's right. She can't invite everyone. Especially since the space she rents out is not that big, but it is really nice.

"Us, obviously. Stacy and her group. Cole Adams and those guys. And I should invite some juniors, huh?" Morgan thinks about it while everyone around her nods, "Yeah, I'll invite some juniors. I'll invite some of the guys from Regis. And some people from Birch. Oh, the lacrosse team, of course..."

I spaced out and grabbed some bread and looked around the room. She didn't really need our input, I don't think.

But the minute I heard Troy's name, my head perked up.

"Yeah, he's Stacy's cousin, so put him on the list," Cassie told Morgan.

"Who?"

Morgan looked over at me as she grabbed her water, "the new guy, Troy Bolton."

Savannah looked over at me and gave me a small smile. She's the only one who knew and I knew it was going to stay like that. She can keep a secret to save her life. Thank God. I really don't know why I'm being weird about this. Obviously they think he's fine since he is invited to this party. But I don't know.

"When's the party?"

"In two weeks," Morgan tells Char.

What? Two weeks? "Why are you BARELY planning?"

Morgan rolled her eyes, "Gabriella, I'm not barely planning. I have everything planned. But after last year, people trying to crash, I've giving the invitations only a week early this time and if they can make it, great. If not, who cares. It's better this way."

Yeah, I guess so. "How much money did you raise last year?"

"A lot," she smiled, "a lot, a lot. And I'm hoping it's the same this year."

Not only is her party for charity, but it's also a really fun party. She always, always gets someone to perform and last year she had Lana Del Rey which is crazy since she's so huge. That's why people wanted to crash. This year, she's not having anyone, but that doesn't even matter because it's fun enough as is.

The waitress came and brought all of us our food and Morgan put away her things so she could eat. I was so excited to eat. This place was the best.

"Wait, let me make a toast."

We all put down our forks and grabbed whatever we were drinking and looked over at Cassie.

She smiled and then thought for a minute before actually saying it, "Okay, I just want to say that I love you all like sisters and I can't wait to spend my last year of high school with you guys. I am SO lucky we've managed to say friends all these years and I know it's only going to get better. So... to us!"

"Awwww!"

Cassie shook her head and laughed and put her glass in the middle.

We wall followed suit and raised our glasses and carefully dinged them against each other. I really am lucky to have this group of girls with me. I know I am. Sure, we fight, but we're over it in a little bit. And there's no group I'd rather spend my last year of high school with than them.

"Cheers!" We all say before digging in.

* * *

"Lupe, where's my mom?"

Lupe looked up from cleaning the counters, "Oh she went with Mrs. Davis for coffee."

Oh right, right. My mom's helping Morgan's mom with the party. Obviously she has a planner, but my mom is really good at negotiating and Mrs. Davis could for sure use my mom there to help her out with that.

I smile at her and walk further in with Troy behind me, "And my dad? Is he working?"

She nodded, "Yes, he wanted me to give you this actually. You just missed him." She went over to the dining room table and grabbed a small box.

They were some earrings that he wanted me check and see if it was a good gift to give to my cousin tomorrow when he sees her since he's going to miss her actual birthday brunch on Sunday because him and my mom are going to Paris for business. And I definitely approved. She's been wanting earrings for quite a while now and they're absolutely stunning.

"Oh my gosh," I couldn't help but gush over them, "they're beautiful!"

Lupe nodded and smiled and then turned to Troy, "May I get you something to drink or food? Whatever you like, I get for you."

Troy shook his head, "I'm okay right now, thank you, though."

She exited the room and went over to my brothers room to put away some of his laundry. I put the box down and then went over to the dining room table and sat down. Troy followed behind me and then we took out our English papers and got on our way.

It's Thursday. This project isn't due for two more weeks, but we're spacing it out, not meeting everyday which wasn't my idea. Ha.

"Are you going to Morgan's party?"

"This Saturday, right?" he opens his folder, "Stacy told me about it, so yeah, maybe. She says it's for charity?"

"Yeah, the Children's hospital," I tell him, spreading some papers across the table, "her cousin actually has leukemia so every year for the past five years, her family throws this grand party, but the only way in is if you donate some toys or some cash."

Troy looked interested, and I think a little taken aback. But I'm not surprised. We come off really stuck up, I know that. But we're not. I promise.

He nodded, "Well, then, for sure I'll be there."

"Cool," I tell him.

And then we actually get to work on our homework which sucks. I just want to talk to him, ask him about his day, how he's liking New York so far. It's only been two weeks, I think. Actually no, he's been here for a month, but I've only been hanging out with him for two weeks. This project is demanding. Our teacher is giving us plenty of time and we're getting shit done, but we're only meeting twice a week. And it's been three weeks, so. But we have to actually work on this and it's totally not fun at all. But whatever. It's going by quickly. Very quickly, actually.

Because before I know it, it's almost five and he's telling me he needs to get home.

It's only been an hour and a half, but I felt like our time was cut short today and that's definitely not what I wanted.

"Gabriella, I leaving now," Lupe tells me as she has her bag in her hands and her jacket in the other, "I no make dinner tonight, sorry, but you said you were not coming home and Josh is not either."

I did tell her I wasn't coming home, but that changed after school. Savannah canceled on dinner today at her place so I asked Troy if he wants to work on the project and he said yes so here we are. And here I am with no dinner. And when my mom comes home, I'm definitely not going to ask her to cook for me.

Lupe left and then Troy turned to me, "are you going to be okay?"

What? "I'll just order pizza."

He looked like he was really thinking about something and then once he packed up everything in his backpack he looked up at me, "come on, I'll take you to get something to eat since everyone abandoned you. And you can even wear your fancy new expensive earrings."

As soon as he said that, a small smile emerged on my face and I was quickly going to get up, but then I actually heard what he had to say. I heard the rest of it. The last part. Everyone abandoned me? Who abandoned me? My mom and dad? My brother?

"Wait, what?"

"I mean, your parents are never home, Lupe didn't cook. It's fine, I can take you to eat something."

Hold on. He thinks my parents are never home? I mean, yeah, it's normal that he thinks that since they are never home when he's here but he's only been here THREE times. THREE TIMES. The other times we worked on this project at the school library or at Stacy's place where he's staying at the moment. What is going on here and why am I getting mad? Is it okay that I'm getting mad? Yeah, it is, right? He said something offensive. He's implying that my parents don't care about me. That they're the typical New York parents that are never home, are always out socializing? Ugh. So rude.

I push my chair back a bit and get up, "What are you talking about?"

"What?" he asks me, I think trying to figure out what's wrong, "do you not want to get something to eat?"

"Why are you saying everyone has abandoned me?"

He chuckled and shook his head, "I didn't mean it literally. It was a joke. I just meant, I don't know, your parents are never home, your brother always seems to be out as well, Lupe's gone for the day. You're by yourself here."

My parents are never home? Okay, I sensed his tone. He's judging me. He's judging us. And he's judging us HARD. They are home. They're just never home when he's here because he's only been here THREE TIMES IN HIS WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE. Ugh. I'm mad. And I'm sure that if he took a second to ask me about my life, maybe he'd know that my parents are incredible and the most loving, supportive parents a girl could ever dream of.

"I'm not hungry, you can go by yourself."

I grab my phone from the table and walk away. Well, pretty much stomp away.

He comes after me, his backpack in hand and stops me by the elevator, "why are you taking this out on me?"

Taking what out on him? Oh, I get it. What an asshole. I turn around to face him and for a second, I look into his beautiful blue eyes and feel like I can't yell at him, but that washes over me pretty quickly. Thank God.

"You're insinuating that my parents are never home, that I'm always left behind, that they basically don't care about me. That my dad bought me those earrings to buy my love. Huh?" I asked and he looked a bit embarrassed, "just admit to it. You think that."

He shrugged, "I mean, it's New York, I get it. Stacey's parents are busy, too."

"You get nothing!" I continue, "you don't know anything about me so for you to sit there and judge me, it hurts. It's..."

It looked like he felt bad for every saying anything, joking or not, and he wanted to apologize and take it all back, but no. I couldn't have it right now. I can't believe he would just assume. I thought he was for sure different.

I took a deep breath and continued, "I just don't appreciate your comments so you can leave now.."

"Gabriella, I'm..."

"No, just go," I open the elevator for him and then turn around and leave.

I was actually hurt. I kind of like this guy. I want to get to know him and here he is, judging me. Ugh.


	8. Chapter 8

Holy fuck, you look HOT."

I pushed my hair out of my face and smiled at Savannah, "yeah? You like the dress? I wasn't so sure if I should wear it or not."

Savannah nodded, "Oh my gosh, yes. I want you to wear this for the rest of your life. It looks SO good on you, who made it? And can I borrow it sometime, like maybe for my cousin's wedding that way the people there can't judge me for not wearing it as well as you."

"Shut up," I rolled my eyes as I put my clutch in our private booth where no one can get it, "it's Valentine and of course you can borrow it."

"Ugh, Valentino, my fave," she squeals before turning around, "let's get a drink."

We go over to the bar and she orders us both mojitos.

As we're waiting for them, I scan the room for one particular person, but I don't see him anywhere.

"Are you looking for your boyfriend?"

Fuck. She caught me. "No," I shrug, trying to think of someone I could be possibly looking for, "Um, I'm looking for Char, where is she? She told me she was running a bit late, but I thought she'd be here by now, she doesn't live far from here at all."

"She's here," Savannah tells me, "she's helping Morgan out with something."

Oh okay. Well then I guess there's no reason to be looking around now, right? But ugh. I want to see if Troy's here even though I'm mad at him. I'm so mad at him. Yes, I've been judged before but I thought he was different.

I thought he was a nice guy from Chicago who just takes the good with the bad and gets to know someone before they judge.

But I guess not.

"William's coming," Savannah tells me as she hands me my drink, "he should be here any minute now."

"S, that's exciting!" I take a sip and yep, it's perfectly made, "are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend now or what?"

"Not yet," she shakes her head as we make our way through a crowd of people, "but I'm pretty sure it's going to change soon. It's been about a month and we've hung out quite a bit so yeah, it's time. And I'm ready."

Savannah stops in her tracks as she looks down at her phone and in turn makes me run into her a little bit but thank God I didn't spill anything anywhere. She turns back to me and gives me a big smile and squeal and tells me she'll be right back. That she has to go grab William in the front.

I watched her leave and couldn't help, but smile. My best friend has a boyfriend pretty much and I'm so freaking happy for her.

"Gabs!"

"There you are!" I tell Char as I walk towards her.

"Yeah, I was helping Morgan with some of the Children's hospital presents, deciding where's a good place to set up the table for it," she fills me in, "the spot where it was originally located was horrible so I had to help her move it and shit."

That sucks. "Is your sister here or did she end up going with your parents to the Hamptons for the weekend?"

Char shook her head, "No, she's around here something. Don't know where, though."

Good. I love her little sister as if she was my own. "Are you still spending the night or should I stay at your place? Victoria came stay too if she wants. My parents are out of town, remember?"

"Let's do your place then!" Char's eyes light up, "yeah, yeah. We'll just borrow some clothes, unless you don't mind if we stop by on the way home."

"Oh I don't care," I take a seat as we reach our booth, "either way is fine."

"Okay, cool," Char puts her drink down at the table and then turns around, "I'm gonna go use the bathroom, but if you see Cassie can you tell her that my sister was looking for her and if she asks why tell her that you have no idea because I don't know either."

I tell her yes and then she's off to the bathroom leaving me alone here. It was lonely over here. It was upstairs and we could look down at everyone, but really, everything was happening downstairs. I guess it was just a good place to escape for a little bit but I didn't need escaping right now.

So I headed downstairs with my drink and went to find Savannah so I could say hi to Will.

But before I could even find them, someone stopped me.

"Can I talk to you?"

It was Troy Bolton. And he looked incredibly hot. "I don't have much to say to you."

He looked a little upset, "Well, then let me talk. Can we go someone a little less loud? Someone quiet?"

Ummm no. I'm not going to leave my best friends party when she hasn't even gotten on the mic and welcomed everyone yet. I didn't want to miss that. She always gave a small speech at the beginning and I LOVED hearing it. We were seriously 20 minutes into this party. People were still coming in and getting situated. She was giving them time. And I know the speech is coming soon so I'm not going anywhere with anyone. Especially him.

"I can't," I start backing up, "I have things to do."

But I don't. He doesn't know that, though. I walked away from him and then spotted Cassie who was laughing with Monique about something.

I walked up to them and said hey and then the music that was playing grew quiet. Everyone grew quiet, actually.

We all turned when we saw a spotlight shining in the middle of the stage and Morgan was up there with her mom and her sister and yep, this is speech time. Thank God I didn't go off with him.

"Hi, guys," she spoke into the mic, "I just want to start this off by saying I'm so happy so many of you could join me and my family for another amazing party that benefits the Children hospital, which is near and dear to my heart." She stops for a bit because I know she's getting a little sad thinking about her cousin. But she quickly gets back on here, "Your donation, big or small, is much appreciate and I know us Davis girls can't thank you enough for what you guys do. Honestly, we're so lucky and blessed and I know we're all in a position to be able to give back so the fact that you guys do means the world to me and I want you guys to have the best time ever tonight. Oh and I want to thank my best friends in the whole entire world- Charlotte Adams, Cassie Taylor, Savannah Watson and Gabriella Montez. Your endless love and support means the world to me and it's because of you guys that I keep this going."

Oh man, oh man, oh man. I did not expect to shed some tears tonight, dammit!

But I didn't care. We clapped, we all wiped tears away because for us personally, this party is so much more than just a party. It's about giving back.

"Let's get food, I'm starving."

I followed Cassie and we went to serve our some a bit of food.

It wasn't real food. Well, like meals. It was more like appetizers, or horderves if you want to get fancy, and desserts and things you can much on which was okay. I ate a bit before I got here because I knew what to expect already.

We all ate and then we joined everyone downstairs. And it seemed like everyone was having a good time. I know I was.

Until Troy Bolton came up to me again.

This time, though, I was walking through the crowd with Savannah to get my second drink of the night. And once he asked if he could talk to me, Savannah smiled at me and then bailed. In her defense, though, she doesn't know that I hate him right now and I no longer want to get to know him on a deeper level.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" he tells me as I cross my arms across my chest, "I didn't mean to say any of that."

"Oh, you didn't?" I question him, "but you believe it."

"No," he says, but it doesn't sound convincing, "I mean, does it really matter? I shouldn't have thought it. It was wrong and it was me judging and it's the last thing I do. It's not the kind of person I am but after being at your house a few times and your parents never being there, I don't know, I jumped to conclusions. And it always seemed like something was up. Like you were sad about them not being there so I just figured. I don't know."

What is he even talking about? When did I look sad about it?

I tried my best to think about all the times he was there. Let's see... the night I was drunk, they were at some party. The first time he came over when I was sober, they went to a dinner.

And then the other night they were just out. My dad was working and my mom was having coffee with Morgan's mom, helping her plan the party.

"You're reading it all wrong," I tell him, quite annoyed, "my parents aren't gone enough for me to be sad about it which is why you have it all wrong. And why I really don't care to talk to you right now. You know nothing about my life so stop pretending like you do."

"I'm sorry, okay?" he says as he looks right into my eyes, "I shouldn't have said anything."

It seems like he's being sincere, but I honestly have no idea. But he is taking the time to apologize so maybe he does want to make things better. I only apologize to people I still want to be okay with, or friends with, so...

I take a deep breath and then look around. Cassie's watching me and I know she'll ask about it later. Ugh. "You really shouldn't have."

"So tell me. Tell me why I have it all wrong."

What? He wants to know about my family? "What?"

He looks around and then shrugs and gives me a smile. "I really am sorry and I feel really horrible about it, so I don't know. Tell me everything so next time I'm over, I actually read everything correctly and I don't jump to stupid, insulting conclusions about your family and your life."

Wow. This is different. He's actually asking about my life. Most guys don't. They don't care about any of that. And that's probably why it doesn't work out.

Ryan already knew my family. He knew my life. So it was different dating him. It was a whole different ballgame.

And not that I'm going to date Troy, but still. I have a crush on him so this definitely lumps him in with the dating category, not the friends category which involves people like Cole who has asked about my family, but I don't think much of it since I'm not interested in him like that, you know?

"Okay," I tell him.

Then we both walk through the crowd and find somewhere quiet to talk.

* * *

"My dad's uncle was in the hotel business and so that's how he got into it," I explain to Troy as we're sitting in the garden outside, "my mom was 23 years old and she just had me and she was fresh out of college so she didn't really have a game plan. Her and my dad just moved here so he could work with my uncle while she took care of me during the day."

Troy looked like he was listening intently and that made me happy. It wasn't a half ass apology.

He just let me talk. "We were getting along just fine. We were staying at my grandma's house who lived in Bedford so he'd just drive to the city. And a year after he started working, it all came together. My dad felt there wasn't a hotel in the city that was very kid friendly. They were all for people who stopped by on business, not for any families wanting to just vacation but not in the tourist area, you know? So it started like that and by age 27, with two small kids, he was well on his way. And then by 29, actually on my 5th birthday, he opened the hotel and since then, it has expanded to a few places."

"Do you want to hear something funny?" he tells me after I'm done talking, to which I nod my head to, "whenever we'd visit Stacy or my grandma or any other family members here, we'd actually stay at your dad's hotel. My mom loves it."

That made me smile. And happy. That's exactly what my dad wanted. He wanted people to want to stay there, he didn't just want to be for convenience.

I felt a little more relaxed now and I wasn't necessarily still mad at him. "The first year was tough. My mom was his unofficial business partner and they were super busy so honestly, we didn't see much of them. But it wasn't by choice, it was just really demanding and my grandma just tried to explain to us that this is what needed to happen if we ever wanted to stop living with her."

Troy was right back at listening to me and I was trying to remember everything.

"So we were fine with it, we'd go to school, come home and have dinner and that was our day," I continued, "but then my mom noticed that my brother was doing some homework and she was taken aback by how much he knew.. I mean, she literally had no idea what was going on with school and that's when she said that enough was enough, family comes first and my dad totally agreed because it was in their hearts, they just needed some reinforcement and someone to say it. So yeah, from then on, they made it a point to get whatever help they needed in order to not be away from us too long."

We heard the door open which caused me to pause my story, but no one was there. Weird.

Anywaaaay. "I never resented them for it. Looking back, they'd come home and they'd be loving and stuff so it's not like they wanted to be away. I saw it more of them having to be way, you know?"

"Of course," he agrees, "parents have to do what they have to do sometimes to give their kids the best lives."

"Yeah, I guess," I nod, "and so really, truly, to this day, if they get a business call during dinner and one of us are in the middle of telling them something, it goes to voicemail. They're home at least four nights a week for dinner. They only ever do business trips together and it's always only if we have nothing going on with school or any sort of party. Honestly and truly, it's like a normal suburb family except for the mom who can't cook which is where Lupe comes in. And we're not going to deny that we can do it all ourselves because we can't sometimes and that's okay. Nothing wrong with having a maid."

"No, of course not," he quickly defends the idea, "no, Lupe's great."

I smile. She is great. And she's like one of my unofficial best friends. "I guess that's really all I have to say about it."

"I'm sorry again. I didn't mean to come off like that because the last thing I want to do is offend you..." he paused for a split second and reworded it, "um, or anyone, really." What? What does that mean? Could he be... interested? Oh my gosh. No, Gabriella. Don't get your hopes up.

"It's fine. I'm used to it. I just, I've never really heard it said to my face so I reacted. I'm sorry for yelling at you."

He laughed and shook his head, "Nah, it's fine. I deserved it, obviously. My mom always told me to not judge a book by it's cover and there I was, doing exactly that, so I'm sorry."

Well, okay, if he says so. I'm not gong to continue this back and forth. He said sorry, I'm accepting it and we're moving on now. "It's okay."

And then after a few more minutes of conversing, we decided to head back inside. It was getting pretty cold out there and I didn't have my jacket.

He went one way and I went the other way to find my friends, but who I ran into was Stacy Smith who had a drink in her hand and a big smile on her face, looking like she had been looking for me and this wasn't a coincidence running into her.

"Hi," I step back a bit.

"Hey," she smiles at me, "great party, huh?"

I nod as I push some hair behind my ears and look around to see if I could find any of my friends. I see Morgan, but she's talking to some people I don't really know. "Yeah, well, Morgan knows how to throw a party."

She nods and also looks around, but finally has her attention back on me. "I like you, Gabriella, but let's be honest. Your track record with guys isn't really the best. You're in and then you're out just like that. And it's never them dumping you, you know? And you have that whole Ryan situation..."

"What?" I immediately spit out, confused by this whole thing. What is going on?

"Troy," she tells me, "I don't know what's going on between the two of you, sneaking off to the garden, doing some project together, but he's not one of us, he didn't sign up for this. And I really just don't want him getting hurt. He's my cousin. I'm just looking out for him."

Okay. Umm. Did he tell her something? No, right? But I have to make sure. "I don't know what he's been telling you..." I pause to see if she'll interrupt.

And yep. She did. "Nothing, but I clearly can see something's up..."

Yeah, that's the thing. Nothing is really up. Well on my part it kind of is. I'm interested. But I have no idea if he is. "Stace, your cousin and I are just friends, we're working on a project together, and I was just talking to him about something. Nothing romantic going on there. I promise."

She looked convinced. It doesn't take very long to convince her about something. Thank God. "Okay, well, I'm just saying."

"No, yeah, totally," I tell her looking back at Morgan who was still in the same spot. "Um, I have to talk to Morgan really quick so if you'll excuse me..."

She smiled at stepped off to the side so I could get through, "No, yeah, of course. I'll see you later."

I smiled at her and then walked off.

What the heck just happened? I was definitely not expecting that. AT ALL.


	9. Chapter 9

"Can I ask you something?" I asked my brother as he chomped away on some eggs benedict.

He looked up, a mouth full of food and nodded.

My brother's a year younger than me and has his own set of friends so we don't really hang out at school, but if we're each not hanging with our friends, then we're probably together, hanging out. It's always been like this. Since we're only a year apart, we get along really well and stuff. We talk to each other.

And I'd say he knows me better than any one else. Besides my parents. Oh, and I guess my friends, too.

How do I word this? Hmm. "Do you think I have a problem of holding on to guys?"

"A problem?" he asks once he swallows his food, "um no, maybe you can, but you get bored. You're really picky. Ryan was the exception and I actually can't believe you guys as long as you did."

What? Okay, yes, I've always known that I'm picky, but I wouldn't say I get bored. They just don't all peak my interested. Wait. Ahhh, maybe he's right. Ryan and I started dating mid November and we broke up in June. That's about seven months. But before then, every guy I seemed to go out with, after two or three dates, I'd be done with them. And it wasn't just so I could have a new guy. It was just because I wasn't interested.

I mean, this one guy had the worst texting habit. This other guy was way too affectionate for my liking and... oh my gosh. Listen to me think.

"Do you think I need to maybe change or what?"

"Change?" Why is he repeating everything?! "I mean, not necessarily. You have your shit together. You're allowed to be picky, I just think can sometimes stick it out a little longer instead of just bailing after one bad moment, you know? That's my opinion."

Okay, yeah, I get what he's saying.

"Why are you asking?"

Oh, umm. Maybe because of Stacy last night. I am interested in Troy. Am I going to pursue him? Fuck no. If he shows interest in me, I'll let him and I'll show interest back, but I am definitely not making the first move. Nope.

I shrug as I grab some fruit from my plate, "No, just someone told me not to hurt someone and it really got me thinking. They were making it seem like I do it intentionally or something, which I definitely don't. And so, I don't know. Maybe I need to change. Or maybe not. I wanted to just have your opinion."

"You made a move on Troy?"

What? "What? Josh, no, why would you say that?"

He laughed and cut up some more of his eggs Benedict, "oh please. You're so interested in him. I see the way you stare at him.

"What are you talking about? I don't, I don't stare at him."

"You do," he laughs, "when he's over and he's looking down at your paper, I've seen you, you stare at him and the second he's about to life his head, you look away or you look down at your paper. Don't try to deny it. You're into him."

"So what?"

He shrugged, "It's not a bad thing."

Well, maybe now it is. Stacy doesn't want me to hurt him and according to her, I hurt guys, essentially. And you know what? I don't think I really ever feel bad about it because I know these guys don't necessarily care, either. They're rich and hot and jump from girl to girl. But Troy. I guess he's different. I don't know him very well obviously, but I'm getting to know him and he just gives off this vibe that he's different. So I definitely don't want to do what I always do.

Dammit. What's a girl to do? "I guess." But I'm not sure if it is or not.

And that's what I need to figure out. Ugh.

* * *

"I'm pretty sure we can finish this project in like two more sessions, don't you think?" I asked Troy the following Wednesday afternoon.

He nodded as he continued writing, "Yeah, I think so. Wanna get together tomorrow or something and then maybe this weekend if you don't want to work on it during the week and be stress free. It's up to you."

I thought about it for a second. When's it due again? Friday? "No, yeah, that works. I don't think I have anything going on."

We were pretty much done for the day. We've been working on it for close to an hour. It's not a hard project. It's just super demanding. Like most people spend maybe 20-30 minutes on it every day, but we spread it out and just work on it for two hours so we don't have to touch it everyday of the week.

He started putting some papers into his folder when I heard the ding of the elevator. My parents were home.

And they were going to meet Troy for the first time. Oh fuuuck.

I panicked just a little bit because I knew they had a long day so I don't know if my dad was going to be grouchy or not. He was meeting with some potential clients and usually if it doesn't go as planned or if it was stressful, he'll come home grumpy and just go and watch some TV by himself.

My mom turned the corner, entered the kitchen and put some bags on the counter, but then she immediately looked back at us. "Oh, hi."

"Hey, mom," I smiled at her.

She smiled, noticing Troy, and came towards us, "I didn't know we were having company."

Yeah, I didn't either. We changed it from his place to mine last minute because my brother ended up coming with us. "Yeah, um, this is Troy," I introduce them, "and Troy, this is my mom... Elizabeth."

Troy stood up and put his hand out for her to shake, "nice to meet you Mrs. Montez."

My mom smiled at him and I immediately knew by that smile that she found him very attractive. She giggled for no reason whatsoever and shook his hand, "nice to meet you. You guys still aren't done with your project?"

"No," I told her as I put some papers away and closed my book, "almost."

"Yeah," Troy agreed, "well, we're done for the day."

"Oh perfect!" My mom clapped her hands together, "just in time for some dinner. My husband and I grabbed some Chinese take out from the best Chinese place in town and we have a whole lot of food so you should stay for dinner. Unless of course you have plans."

Troy looked at me and I think he might have silently been asking for permission, but I honestly did not mind at all. So I just smiled at him.

And I think he got it. "Sure, thank you."

She smiled at him and then turned on her heels and went back to the kitchen.

And less than a minute later, my dad came into the kitchen, dressed in some sweats and a t shirt with no shoes on yelling at my brother. "Josh, dinner!"

"Hey, dad."

My dad turned around at the sound of my voice and looked like he was going to come over and give me a hug and say hi to me, but he kind of stopped in his tracks when he saw Troy. Oh right, a guy in our house without my parents being there is not really that cool with my dad even if I am almost 18 years old.

And Lupe was off for the day because she had a dentist appointment and a doctor's one.

"Hi," he finally tells me, "who's this young man?"

"I'm Troy," Troy tells him before I even have a chance to introduce him.

They shake hands, my dad gives him an obligatory smile, but I know he's probably wondering what the hell he's doing here and if this guy is someone I'm dating. He thinks this with every single guy I've ever brought home. And most of the time, they're just friends.

I get up and gather my notebook and textbook and hold them against my chest, "we're working on an English project together."

"Oh, right, right," he says, sounding less concerned now, "well then, welcome to the Montez house."

"Thank you," Troy politely says.

And then he follows me out of the kitchen with his stuff and puts it in the front by the elevator so he doesn't forget it when I leave. He heads to the bathroom and I head to my room to put my stuff away. And on the way out, I swing by Josh's room and tell him to come out for dinner.

And the three of us, Troy, Josh, and I head back into the kitchen where my parents are already sitting around the table with all the food on the table.

Once we all get situated and have some food on our plate, my mom gets right to the questions.

"Where did you move from Troy?" she grabbed a couple of egg roles from the center, "you're new here, right?"

"Yes," Troy covered his mouth so he could finish chewing, "I actually lived her until I was about 7 and then I moved to Chicago and lived there til now, but during the summer, I moved back. My dad got a job here so yeah."

"Are you liking it?'

He nodded, "Yeah, yeah, I do. It's sort of like Chicago, but I mean, I obviously miss Chicago, I basically grew up there. But New York's great."

My dad swallowed some of his orange chicken and grabbed his glass of wine my mom just poured for him and washed it down with that. "I actually grew up in Chicago for the first 18 years of my life."

"You did?" Troy turned to him, "isn't it the best? The food. I miss the food a lot."

"Oh yeah," my dad nods as he puts some more orange chicken on his fork, "the food is my favorite part. Whenever I go back, I have to go to Lou Malnati's. Hands down the best pizza I have ever had in my entire life. So good."

"Oh man," Troy agrees with my dad, "seriously the best pizza of my life. I go all the time with my family. How often do you get out there?"

"I try to go often. I mean, my mom moved out here, so did my brother and my sister. I still have my sister out there so I do visit her and some old friends, but not as often as I'd like. We went this past April, though, and it was so great. I miss the food so much, though," my dad laughed.

Troy nodded his head, almost laughing, "yeah, I think that's the part I miss the most, though. The food."

Okay, um, so far so good. They're getting along just fine.


	10. Chapter 10

"Are you gonna finish that?"

I look down at my plate and see a few pieces of sushi still on it. "No," I shake my head as I push it away.

Troy grabs my plate, brings it closer to him and grabs the three rolls I didn't finish and plops them in his mouth. At separate times of course. "Soo good," he says after finishing everything, "but I'm so full. Maybe I shouldn't have ate yours right now. I feel like I'm going to explode at any minute."

Yeah, maybe he shouldn't. But who could pass up some Alaskan rolls? Well, obviously me.

"I don't know if I'll be able to finish the project today."

"Shut up," I roll my eyes as I sip on my raspberry iced tea, "by the time we get back to my place, you better be ready to work. This was just a lunch break."

"Fine," he tells me reaching for his soda, "but I might not be on my a-game."

I didn't really care. I laughed and shrugged it off. "As long as we get it done, I don't care. Well, I do, but I'm pretty positive we're going to get an A anyway, we've done a pretty good job, don't you think?"

"No, yeah," he agrees, "we have. I'm just so ready for it to be over. Most demanding project, ever."

I didn't get sad about that comment because... okay, no, maybe it did hurt a little bit. Even if he didn't mean it in that way, I can still take it as he's ready for it to be over so he doesn't have to hang out with me anyway, you know? Maybe it's the case, maybe it's not. But I mean, he is here with me eating sushi.

So he must like hanging out with me. He could have easily not suggested going somewhere for a lunch break.

"I know."

"What are you doing tonight?"

"Umm, I don't really know," I shrugged, "don't really have any set plans."

For some reason, I thought he was going to maybe ask me to do something, but nope. He was purely just wondering. And it was frustrating. I mean, we've been hanging out quite a bit. Even if it is for school. But we are and we're getting to know each other and I mean, I like what I see. He's met my family, he got along GREAT with my family, we've gone out to eat together. We've gone to the movies. To get ice cream. I feel like maybe there's something here, but at the same time, he literally has not made a move or has show obvious interest in me and it's so heartbreaking. Okay, not heartbreaking, but frustrating.

It's frustrating because here I am... going gaga over him. I seriously have such a crush on him and it's so annoying. So annoying.

"What about you?" I ask him, "what are you doing?"

"I'm just hanging out with the guys," he answers as he clears his plates away, "nothing great."

The guys. Meaning his cousin, Cole and all them. It's also so frustrating how we used to hang out with that group ALL the time. But since Cassie and one of the guys in the group had a thing and it didn't end too pretty, we really can't all hang out together like it used to be.

And it sucks that Troy's there NOW because I don't hang out with them as much as I'd like anymore. So yeah, that sucks. I could've hung out with him!

"Oh, sounds like fun."

He didn't say much else because the waiter came and dropped off our check. I offered to pay but he didn't let me and so that makes me a little happy again because it sort of feels like a date.

But obviously I know it's not at all. He put his card down and then the waiter came and got it and returned it in less than a minute. He left a tip and then we got out of there and got in the car and drove back to my face to finish our project. It was a quick lunch.

"Thanks again for lunch," I tell him as we're sitting in the car.

"Anytime," he smiles at me and I get butterflies in my stomach. Legit butterflies.

Sometimes I feel like he might be interested and other times I feel like he's only hanging out with me because of this project. And that's why it's going to be SOO bittersweet when it's over. Like maybe I won't ever get to hang out with him again. Or maybe I will. I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T KNOW HOW IT'LL BE.

* * *

"Do you wanna order pizza or something?"

I open my eyes and see Savannah walking into my room before she takes her shoes off. "What?"

She came over to my bed and looked over me, "What are you doing? I asked you if you want to order some pizza or something. Or maybe some Italian food and we can watch it in bed while watching reruns of the OC. Doesn't that sound like such a fun Saturday night?"

It actually does, but I'm on such a Troy high right now that all I really want to do is see him. "Yeah, sure, that's fine."

Savannah climbed onto my bed and made herself comfortable on the left side before she grabbed my laptop from my nightstand, "Can you help me find something to wear next week?"

I sucked it up and sat up and nodded. I'm not going to let a boy take over everything when we're not even together. That's annoying.

"It's a black and white party so I'm thinking of this white Lanvin dress, but it also comes in black if I do decide that I like this one the best," she clicks on it on the Barneys website, "but I also really like this Phillip Lim white dress."

Both dresses she was showing me were really cute and I'd probably wear on of them. But I don't know, I don't mind telling people what to wear if they already have the dresses, but if they don't, I feel uncomfortable telling them which one to buy because I don't want them to regret it and have it be too late.

She kept scrolling through the website when one of the dresses caught my eye, "Wait, S, that Alexander Wang one is so cute!"

"This one?"

I nodded and she quickly clicked on it.

It wasn't exactly white. It was more of a cream color, but it was so, so cute. And simple.

Maybe a little too simple for her liking. "Can I wear cream, though? Like it's a black and white party."

"Who cares," I shrug, "it's pretty much the same. And if I remember correctly, Katherine came in jeans and a blouse when you told her it was black tie at your birthday party last year, so whatever. Just go for it."

"You're right," she said as she checked for availability in the store, "yeah, I'm gonna get this one. It's so cute. And so me."

"Yeah!" I tell her, "if I didn't already have a dress for it, I would have so gotten this. You're going to look so hot."

She closed my laptop and put it back to where it was and then turned to me and gave me a look. I know that look. And she wants to talk. About what's wrong with me. "Okay now that I've gotten that out of the way, tell me what's wrong."

I shrug, "Nothing's wrong."

"Oh please, Gabriella," she laughs, "I'm your best friend. I've known you for years. I KNOW something's wrong so just tell me."

"It's stupid," I tell her getting up and walking over to my phone where it's charging by my vanity, "I just can't figure out if Troy's into me and I know I'm into him and Stacy made it even worse by telling me not to hurt him because she knows how I am with guys- I get bored and toss them off to the side."

"So now you're over thinking it, yet you're still into him?"

I sighed and nodded, "Yes and I just want him to ask me to hang out, like without it feeling like it's convenient, you know?"

Savannah looked at me and smiled. "You're into a boy and for the first time even, it's not because he was into you first. You're growing up."

She's right. Ah. For the first time ever, I'm interested in a guy and I don't even know if he's interested in me. This never happens. I hate rejection so I always make sure the guys into me first even if I am sort of into him, I don't let anymore know and I make myself feel not into him, but with Troy, I can't. I'm pretty sure I like the chase or something because here I am, still into him and I have no idea if it'll he'll ever be into me. And that sucks. Ugh. I'm so over it.

"Just call him up and I don't know, ask him if he wants to hang out."

"You're fucking crazy," I tell her rolling my eyes, "why would you even say that? You know I would never."

She laughed and got off my bed and went over to her purse, "Why not? I dare you."

Dare? What are we, in 5th grade? No way. No how. Not ever. I don't even care anymore. Well, I do, but I'm gonna try to make myself stop stressing about it. It'll work out if it's supposed to work out. "No, he's hanging out with Cole and them tonight, anyway. So he's busy."

Savannah's eyes widened as she turned around to look at me, "Oh my gosh. Perfect. Let's run into him, yeah? You guys can hang out."

"No, S," I shake my head, "that's waaaay too obvious."

"Trust me," she looks down at her phone and after half a minute or so she looks up at me, "it's done and taken care of. Get ready, we're gonna go hang out with your man."

"Don't call him that," I tell him, "and also, no. No way. He's so gonna figure out I'm stalking him."

She ignored me and went over to my closet and disappeared in there for about a minute. She came out with some leather pants and a simple blouse. "You're wearing this and we're gonna go and have fun. If anyone asks, we're having a little one on one girls night."

"What?" I asked her confused, "how do you even know where they're at?"

"I texted Carly and asked what she's doing tonight and she told me not much so I said, not hanging with Nate? And she said no, he's going to with the guys to shoot some pool and have dinner."

Fuck she figured out where they were. There was only one spot where those guys would be to shoot pool. Nothing short of fancy. "I hate you."

She smiled at me and threw my clothes at me, "go get ready."

I honestly don't know why I was going along with this. He's so gonna know I'm stalking him. I know he is. And it's going to blow up in my face and I'm going to be SO embarrassed. And he won't ever be interested in me. Ugh. Maybe I'm over thinking this. But also... maybe not.

Whatever. I'm over this. I'll just listen to whatever Savannah has to say. She's in charge.


	11. Chapter 11

Slate.

It's cool, it's hip, it's modern and a great place to just get a drink and hang out.

And that's exactly what me and Savannah were doing. Well, sort of. I'm getting food. I'm not drinking. I don't know if she is, but we're currently seated and there's no sign of Troy anywhere. Granted, it is a bit place, he could very well be downstairs but whatever. I'm not going to try to look for him.

"Lighten up," Savannah tells me, "we've been here a few times, people come here. He won't think it's weird."

"Whatever," I tell her looking around, "I can't believe you dragged me here."

She smiled at me and then looked down at her menu, "Want me to go look for him? I think they're probably downstairs or something."

I shook my head, "No. Don't."

But of course she doesn't listen. She gets up and leaves me there and goes downstairs and I'm annoyed, mortified and worried. I should have just gone to Cassie's and watched movies with her since she's sick, but at the same time, I didn't want to get sick. Ugh. So now I'm stuck here with Savannah, who is usually my go to person if I want to just go out and have a bite to eat. But not right now. She's pissing me off so bad.

She's gone for like ten minutes and I have no idea what she's doing. Maybe she went to use the bathroom? I don't know.

But finally she comes back and she has a smile plastered on her face.

"What?"

"Found them," she said all cheery, "and guess whose ears perked up when your name was mentioned?"

"Shut the fuck up," I rolled my eyes, "you're lying."

She looked offended, but I knew she was just messing around, "Am not! I ran into Cole and he asked what I was doing here and I said that I was craving the burger here and he asked who I was with and I said you and I saw Troy's head perk up. And then Cole told us to join them but I said you weren't really that big of a pool player so I didn't know, that we were probably just gonna hang out upstairs and have some dinner."

"Okay," I felt a little relieved actually. It seemed like I didn't want to be down there so now there's no way Troy can think I came for him. "I'm impressed."

"See," she defends herself, "I know exactly how to play it. Cole said he's probably gonna grab a bite to eat in a bit so he'll come up, but that they weren't thinking of doing dinner here. They were just gonna play pool for a while."

"I honestly don't even know why I'm here if I'm not gonna even make an effort to see him," I tell her, '"I'd much rather have Mexican food."

Savannah rolled her eyes and put down her menu, "Gabriella, this way you can know. If he comes and says hi, you KNOW he's interested. No guy would if he wasn't, okay?"

Maybe she's right. I don't know.

What I do know is I'm hungry and these sliced pork sliders look good and I want some.

We both ordered our food and then talked for a bit about things coming up, how her and Will are doing, her parents upcoming vow renewal ceremony, school, everything you'd talk to a best friend about. And I forgot I was mad at her. She has this effect on me. It's crazy. I can be mad at her one minute and the next I just want to hug her and tell her how much I love her. But I guess that's what best friends are for. Right?

And halfway done with our food, I see Cole Peterson coming towards us.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the two most popular guys eating burgers and sliders," Cole joked around as he took a seat next to me.

"Shut up, Cole," Savannah told him with a mouthful of food, "we're normal girls, duh. We eat everything and anything."

Cole laughed and shook his head, "I'm playing."

The waitress came over and asked if he wanted something to drink and he ordered himself an ice tea. I offered him my last slider but he shook his head, "Nah, we're actually leaving in a bit. Some of the guys are finishing their last game and then we're heading over to Oliveira's to grab some food."

"Oh, God, I love their good," I tell him before taking a sip of my lemonade, "thanks for the invite."

He laughed and grabbed one of my fries, "hey, it's guys night. But you could have totally came if I ran into you before you were chowing these down."

And I would have said no. No way. That would have been way too obvious.

I grabbed my last slider, but put it down when I saw Troy coming towards us. Oh my gosh. Breathe, Gabriella, you're fine. Why are you so nervous all of a sudden around him? You see him at school, you've seen him out, he's been in your home! It's fine. Calm down.

"Hey, guys."

Cole looks behind him and sees him coming, "Troy, take a seat. You done playing?"

He laughed and took a seat next to me, "Yeah, Matt beat me in fusbol which was pretty embarrassing so had to get out of there."

Savannah smiled at him and then looked at me and I wasn't even thinking clearly. Her words just kept replaying in my head. He's here, saying hi to me. He took the time to come over. But then again, Cole is here and maybe that's why. Dammit. What's going on?

"I'm gonna go use the bathroom," Cole gets up and walks away immediately.

And then it's just the three of us. Dammit. What now? Do I say something to him? Do I start a conversation, ask him how his night's going?

But he beats me to it. "Where's the rest of your posse?"

"One's sick, one's on a date and the other one went to the Hamptons for the weekend," I clue him in, "so it's just us two."

"Yeah, I dragged her here," Savannah tells him, I think thinking that it'll help, but it definitely doesn't. In my eyes, it makes it look more suspicious, ugh. "Have you had the burgers here? SO GOOD."

He laughed and shook his head, "No, I haven't actually. It's my first time here tonight."

Yeah, I figured it was.

Savannah asked him some more questions as I finished my last slider. They knew each other. They had math together and actually sat next to each other, but they never really talked. I have that teacher and there's really no time for talking in that class. So he probably thinks she's just being friendly and getting to know him a little bit by asking these questions. She's asking if he misses Chicago, how he likes New York, blah blah blah. I kind of tune them out for a bit.

And then I realized he was talking to me. "What?"

"I asked if those sliders were good because I'm hungry and was thinking of ordering something."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," I push my plate away and off to the side, "they're pretty good."

He grabbed the menu that the waitress accidentally left on our table and flipped through it and meanwhile he was doing that, Savannah was giving me this look where she looked happy and worried all at the same time and I honestly have no idea what it means.

Savannah also pushed her plate to the side and picked up her lemonade, "I thought you were going to dinner with the guys?"

Troy didn't look up from his menu, but he answered her, "that was the plan, but I'm hungry now and those sliders looked pretty good."

"Well, go for it. We'll keep you company."

WHAT? Why did she say that? I mean, obviously we're not going to get up and walk away if he's eating food but at the same time, I was not planning on encouraging him to get food so he can stay. No. I'm trying to make this running into each other as authentic as possible and Savannah is possibly going to blow our chances. Ugh. But at the same time, of course I want him to stay and chat. I just want to stare at him all night. Seriously. His eyes are to die for.

And then when the waitress comes to clear our plates, he orders himself exactly what I had along with a coke.

A few minutes after that, Cole comes back and asks Troy if he's ready to leave.

"Well, I just ordered food because I'm starving."

"What?" Cole looked a little annoyed, "are you really going to make us wait for you? We're hungry, but the guys want to head over to Oliveira's. I thought that was the plan."

"No, yeah, yeah, it was," he told him, "but I don't know, I'm hungry, so I ordered some food, but you guys go. I'll stay here and maybe meet up with you guys after if you're still hanging out. If not, then I'll just go home."

Cole looked like he felt bad about it. Probably because he's new to the group so he doesn't want to make it seem like they're leaving him.

"You sure?"

Troy nodded, "yeah, go."

He then he said bye to us and he was off. And Troy Bolton was sitting across from me, next to Savannah and giving me a small smile. God, he was so hot. And just like that, we were hanging out. And it was all because of Savannah.

Well, God. But Savannah did help a lot.

* * *

Okay, I kind of maybe love Savannah a lot right now.

Not only did she get me to see Troy tonight, but we actually hung out. And she didn't leave my side so it made it seem more a random hang out. I think she did wanna dip out but I texted her and told her that there was no possible way she was leaving me without him thinking anything. Well maybe, but whatever.

"I'm so tired, I think I'm just gonna head home and go to sleep," Savannah announces as we're standing outside of Slate, "are you gonna come with?"

What? That wasn't the plan at all even before all this. She was gonna come and hang out and it was open for a sleepover but nothing set set in stone and now she wants me to go over?

But the she gave me a look and I knew it was part of the plan. "Oh um, no, I should head home. I have plans in the morning."

Savannah nodded and then stepped in front of us and hailed herself a cab. My driver was off for the night and well, she doesn't have one. Not that many people do. Well, that I know of. But it is common here in New York.

"Will you be okay?"

Before I could even answer, Troy stepped up and answered for me, "she'll be fine. I'll get her home."

And when he turned around, Savannah winked at me and then got herself in the cab, "Love you, G. Text me later."

She was off and I was standing here with Troy wondering what the heck was going on or what was going to happen. Shouldn't we maybe take our own cabs back? I mean, yes, we're going the same direction but once we hit the general area, he has to go east and I have to go west. But it's not far so I guess sharing a cab isn't that much of a hassle. I don't know.

He opens the car door when one of them stops for us and lets me in first. He gets in after and then tells the cab driver where to go.

My building.

So he's pretty much taking me home. Okay. Cool. That's fine.

And a little while later, we were in front of my building and he was getting out so he could let me out. He told the cab driver that he'd be right back.

We walked inside, I said hi and goodnight to Craig and then went straight to the elevators where it seemed like he wanted to maybe ride up with me but that wasn't necessary. And also, I didn't want t to really seem like he was dropping me off after a date because yeah, unfortunately, it wasn't a date.

"I think I'm good. Thanks for bringing me home."

Troy nodded, shoved his hands in his pockets and gave me a small smile, "It was the least I could do, you let me hang out with you guys tonight."

I laughed. We sort of did. But little did he know... "Oh, no problem. It was sort of random, but fun," Oh crap. I hope I didn't give it away. Eh I think I'm good. "And sorry about Savannah, I know she asks a lot of questions."

"Oh no, it's fine," he laughs a bit, "she's cool. She's dating Will, right?"

"Yeah, how do you know that?"

He shrugged, "my dad and his dad are good friends. I've known his family for forever, but when I moved to Chicago, we sort of lost touch, well the kids did, but it's one of those situations where we can hang out and pick it right back up, you know? I actually was just with him a few nights ago."

Oh wow, small world. I wonder if Savannah knows this? No, she would have definitely told me if she did.

"That's funny," I tell him, "small world."

"Yeah," it seems like he doesn't have much else to say, so I think we're calling it a night. "Well, I'll let you go, but um, yeah, I'll see you Monday. Or maybe tomorrow if you wanna work on the project a bit."

"Oh yeah, just let me know if you want to. I'm free after 2."

He nods and then backs away a bit and tells me he will. He also gives me a small smile, which always makes me head spin. "I'll see you later. Goodnight."

And with that, he was off and I was turned around waiting for the elevator to open. And once it did, I stepped inside and I couldn't stop smiling. It actually all worked out. It wasn't a date. It wasn't a one on one hangout. But it was more than I could have ever hoped for.

Ugh. I like Troy Bolton.

"Who?"

I stopped looking at the ceiling and realized the elevators door opened. Lupe was standing right in front of me with a hot cup of tea. "Lupe. What are you doing here? And why are you asking me that?"

"Your parents went to Boston, remember? I stay with you guys for tonight."

Oh right, right. They left a few hours ago. It was a charity dinner they had to attend, so it was just overnight. It completely went over my head even though we said by to them. Ha. I'm so distracted. Josh and I wouldn't mind staying by ourselves, but when Lupe offers, we don't ever say no. She says she loves to and doesn't mind because we are like kids to her. And also, it makes us feel more safe. Even with tons of security outside.

I stepped out of the elevator and put my purse down on the table, "Oh, right, right."

"Who you like, miss Gabriella?"

"What?"

I turned around and she was just smiling at me while she blew on her tea, "You said you like boy. Who?"

Fuuuck. I said that out loud? I wasn't thinking it. "Lupe, you heard that?!"

She nodded and smiled. Crap. I tell her everything so why not. I just don't know if I should tell too many people because if he doesn't end up liking me back and this goes nowhere, it's going to be so embarrassing.

We went over to the living room and I took off my shoes and threw them off to the side before I climbed onto the couch and got comfortable.

"Lupe, I don't know what to do."

"You like Troy?"

Yep. She figured it out. I mean, how could she not? That's the only boy that's been around here in a while. She sees me laugh, smile, and act like an idiot around him. Of course she knows who I'm talking about. She was just playing dumb earlier.

And now's where I spill my feelings to her. "I do and it's so frustrating because at times, I feel like he might be into me but at the same time, he hasn't asked me to hang out. I mean, we have, but it was because of our project or if we're taking a break from our project. He hasn't asked to grab dinner or anything like that and I don't know, it's fine. He's still sort of new here and I get it. He might not be interested, but I am interested so that makes it so frustrating."

Lupe nodded, taking everything I said in. "And you don't want to ask him out?"

"No way, Lupe! I am not going to set myself up to possible get rejected. I will cry if that happens."

"He no reject you," she tells me shaking her head as if she's mad that I would even think of that, "you are beautiful and smart and boys like you. He maybe just shy and don't know how to ask you out."

I have no idea. Or maybe he's not interested at all. But like I said, there are instances where he'll say things or do things and I think he might be interested. Like earlier when he walked me in and made sure I got home safely. He didn't have to take a cab with me. He didn't have to take me to get sushi today for lunch during our break on our project. He didn't have to sit down with Savannah and I and have dinner. Or stay for dinner with my parents the other night.

Right? Right. "Maybe. I guess I might to have to wait until after we're done with this project to see if he'll make an effort to hang with me."

"I sure he will," she continues to blow on her hot tea, "I think he like you too, you just have to be patient and wait."

Ugh. Lupe. I sure hope she's right. And you know what? Last time I had a talk to her about whether or not a boy likes me, it was Ryan and she told me that she thinks he does. So maybe I should trust her. Maybe she is right.

And just like that, I feel slightly better about it. "Thanks Lupe, you're the best."

She told me goodnight as I got up and went to my room. It's been a long day and I haven't had a moment to just sit down and breathe... by myself.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face, brushed my teeth and took off my make up. And then I came back to my room and changed into some comfy clothes- sweats and a plain t shirt.

And the minute I climbed into bed, my phone lit up.

It was a text from Troy.

_So do you want to get together tomorrow? You can come over whenever you're done with what you have to do. _

It's such a simple text and it has NOTHING to do with how we feel about each other, it's strictly to work on our project. But it makes me smile like no other. And it's crazy. This big ass smile over a small text that's about SCHOOL WORK. WHAT THE HECK.

I get comfy under my sheets and then grab my phone after a few minutes have passed so I don't seem too eager to reply.

_Sounds good. I'll be there around 2:30. _

I'm assuming the Smiths are going to be gone. The only other time we've worked on this project at his place, they weren't home. But who knows. I hope they're not so Stacy doesn't watch me and give me that weird talk again.

Whatever. Either way will be fine I guess.

A couple minutes later, he finally replied after what seemed like forever. Seriously, I was getting impatient.

_Cool. Thanks again for letting me hang out, it was fun. See you tomorrow (: _

Oh my gosh. It was fun? He had fun hanging out with me? Well, and Savannah. And he gave me a smiley face. Breathe, Gabriella. And stop being so weird about this. It's just a boy. You've hung out with so many. Ugh. This is so annoying. It's annoying how much of an effect he's having on me.

But at the same time, I don't think I'd have it any other way.

_Goodnight (: _


	12. Chapter 12

"We're all going to Katherine's black and white party, right?" Cassie asked the group as we sat around for lunch on Monday.

"Yeah, I am," Char cuts a piece of her chicken, "I already got my dress."

"Yeah, same," Morgan jumps in, "mine's white."

I'm a little distracted to answer. I mean, I hear them and I know what they're talking about and what they're saying. But I'm currently looking across the courtyard at Troy talking to Kimberly Jackson, a very pretty, but annoying classmate. And I'm not just calling her annoying because she's talking to Troy.

Nope. She's been annoying me since the 5th grade. Ugh.

"Gabriella?"

I looked away from them and back at my friends. "Oh, yeah, I'm going. I'm wearing a white Chanel dress."

Morgan groans, "ugh, you're going to outshine me. I swear, white looks SO good on you."

Oh please. "Shut up."

I knew she wasn't serious about being annoyed about the whole thing. Half of the people there are probably going to wear white. Katherine actually has this party every year. People around here are always having parties, just to stay in the social scene. Or for certain charities. Seriously. There are so many parties throughout the whole year, it's ridiculous.

"I have no idea what Sean's going to wear," Morgan sighs, "he doesn't wanna wear a white suit but I told him we'd look good coming in with white."

"No," Savannah shakes her head, "have him wear black. You don't want to seem too coordinated. I think I'm gonna make Will wear black if I end up wearing white, which I think I am. I found the cutest dress."

They got to talking amongst themselves so I snuck away for a bit. Well, not physically, but my eyes wandered back to Troy. And Kimberly. Ugh.

I have no idea what the were talking about, but they were standing up, she had an iced tea in her hand and he had his binder. And they were talking, her laughing occasionally, but it didn't look like anything that serious. But I wanted to know about it so bad.

We got together to work on the project yesterday and we ended up only working on it for like 20 minutes max because we were talking and laughing and messing around and when the clock struck 5, I had to leave to go to dinner with my grandma so we didn't get much done.

And I was more than okay with that because it meant we'd have to get together twice this week.

Also, we had fun. So I was okay with not getting things done.

"Are we all gonna get ready together and then head over there or are we going separately and meeting there?" Charlotte asks as she digs into her fruit cup.

"I say we all get together at my house," Morgan offers, "and Phillip can just take us and then we can all come back and have a sleepover or something. We can also get brunch in the morning."

We all agreed to that because that's one of our favorite things to do. Sleepover and brunch. We live for it.

I was about to get up to go grab myself an iced tea, but Cassie started talking to me.

"Yeah, I heard Trevor wants to ask you to this party. Laurel told me in first period and I also heard it over the weekend," she tells me, "I mean, I don't know if it's true. Rumors get started all the time, but if he does, you should go with him. He's hot."

Trevor is good looking. But he's fucking boring. And I already know this so there no use in wasting time with him. "Cass, it's not prom. Or winter formal or anything like that. He doesn't need to ask me to be his date. That's weird."

"No, it's not!" she argues back, "it's sweet. And I think you should say yes if he asks. He's hot. And you're hot, so why not?"

I looked over at Savannah and she looked a little uncomfortable. I can't believe she was the only one who knew about my crush. I mean, they know I get together with Troy to work on a project, but they haven't said anything about it because I haven't said anything about it. They knew if something was going on, I'd obviously tell them. But I haven't told them anything. A, because well, nothing really is going on. And B, I don't know. This is different. I want to keep it safe for as long as possible so only Savannah knows. And I know she'll keep my secret. She'll take a secret to the grave, to be honest. She's the best.

Before I could even say anything, Savannah jumped in for me. "No, she can't say yes to Trevor because my cousin is going to accompany her."

What? I seriously thought she was just going to have my back and tell them to stop asking me.

But no. She comes out with this bombshell. What the heck is she talking about? Her cousin? Sure, he's hot. But he lives like an hour away. No way.

"Holy fuck, your cousin's hot," Cassie tells her, "okay, you know what? I'm going to find Trevor after school and tell him that you're already going with someone to save him the embarrassment."

I looked over at Savannah and she gave me a look which pretty much tells me to just go along with it. So I do. "Thanks."

And that was that.

* * *

"Hey, um, are you going to that black and white party on Saturday?"

I dusted away the eraser shavings on my paper before looking up at Troy. "Yeah, are you?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, I was thinking about it."

We were currently at my place working on our project. It was the last day. We're pretty much done with it. And once we're pretty much done working for the day, he starts to ask questions or engage in conversation. The first hour is usually just work. But after that, we talk about things. All sorts of things.

"I know there are a lot of parties going on, but Katherine's party is always so much fun. It's always a different theme and this year she chose that. It should be fun, though."

"Yeah," he nods, "that's what Stacy and Matt told me so I think I'll go. I mean, I have nothing else going on."

"Well, then, yeah, you should go."

He gives me a small smile and I think that means yes. I'm not quite sure. He goes back to his work and I go back to mine and that's really all we talked about regarding the party. I mean, there wasn't much else to say. What, do I ask if he wants to come with me? No way. I was reserved for Savannah's cousin who was going to "bail" last minute. I'm all for this plan because I really did not want to go with Trevor and I'm so thankful to Savannah for it.

Twenty minutes later, we were finally done with this almost month long project. And I don't know if I was happy or sad about it.

A little sad, obviously, because I won't have to forcefully hang out with Troy. But also a little happy about it because we don't have to work on it anymore. It was easy, but demanding and it just got tiring. I was so tired of writing so much. "Thank God we're done."

"I know," he agrees, closing his book, "it was easy, but wow, a lot of work."

"Yeah, I can't wait to just turn it in," I tell him, standing up and gathering all my things, "I can't believe it's been a month."

It's been a month. Yeah, sure we didn't hang out every single day, but at least twice a week so that's like 8 hang outs. Maybe more. And sure, they consisted mostly talking about the project, but we'd talk about ourselves and life and things like that, too. I don't know. I've had a good time with him, that's for sure.

I walked out of the kitchen area where we were and he followed closely behind me. He put his stuff down on the table by the elevator and then went over to use the bathroom.

And I went over to my room really quick to put my stuff away.

When I went back to the living room, though, the elevator doors were opening and in walked Savannah. And will.

"What are you doing here?"

Savannah smiled as she held hands with Will, "we were in the neighborhood and wanted to know if you wanted to grab some dinner since I know your parents are going to dinner with mine. I know you don't have plans. I just saw Lupe leaving."

Yeah, I was actually gonna grab some sushi take out because I was craving sushi so I told Lupe around 12 not to cook anything and she can leave around 4 today, which she did. And now Savannah's here. I'm sure she'd be down for sushi, but I don't feel like third wheeling, so...

"Hey, Troy!"

I looked around and saw Troy coming towards us. Fuck. For a minute, I forgot he was here. How could I forget?

He walked over to us and said hi to Will with one of those guy hand shakes or whatever, I don't know. And then he turned to Savannah and said hi. "What are you guys doing?"

"Oh, we were just in the neighborhood and were gonna ask Gabriella if she wants to come to dinner. I didn't know you were here."

"Yeah, we just finished our project," he tells her, grabbing his things.

"Well, then you should come too," she invited him and my eyes widened a bit.

No. It's going to feel like a double date and although my heart is all for it, my mind isn't. I'm too paranoid. I don't want to be that desperate girl. I don't want to make the first move. I don't want him to think I like him even though I do. No, I can't. Ugh.

But he looks over at me and shrugs. "Are you going?"

"I don't know yet," I answered truthfully, "depends where they're going."

"I know you're craving sushi, so that's fine with us," Savannah tells me, "Sushi of Gari? It's close and good."

And somehow, five minutes later, I'm gabbing myself a jacket and we're all in the elevator heading down to have an early dinner. How did this happen? Sure, it was totally organic, but I mean, I hope Troy knows that. I'm too paranoid. I'm over thinking this. Right? Yeah, yeah, I am.

Because we get to the restaurant, order our food, and 10 minutes in, we're all laughing and having the best time. Seriously, the best time.

I'm so glad I came.

* * *

"I know I said I was wearing this white Chanel, but my mom bought me this black Alexander McQueen mini and I'm obsessed with it."

"Well, go try it on and I'll tell you," Morgan tells me as she looks up from her magazine.

It's Friday night, the night before the black and white party and I'm literally trying to decide what to wear. My mom threw me off when she presented me this dress last night that she found during the day and she just had to buy it for me for the party. But I already have my Chanel one so ahhhh, I don't know.

Morgan was over because we were working on some homework for math, we were helping each other out and we didn't want to leave it until Sunday.

I slipped the dress on in my closet and picked out some black jimmy choo pumps and walked out.

"Oh my gosh," Morgan looked up. "How do you look THAT good in that dress when you're wearing no makeup and your hairs up in an ugly bun?"

"Shut up," I tell her, turning towards my full length mirror in the corner.

Hmm. Not to sound narcissistic or anything, but the dress does look good on me. And I'm in reading glasses and my greasy hair is up.

It's probably just the dress. The dress is making me look good. And so yeah, maybe I should wear it right? "I really like it, but I also really like the Chanel one and I love the thought of wearing white."

"Yeah, but I heard so many people are going to wear white," she tells me, closing her magazine, "Lizzie, Matilda, Stacy, Jennifer, Kimberly..."

Kimberly. Ugh. Why did she have to say her name?

I've always found her annoying, but I find her even more annoying now that I know she's friends with Troy. A few days ago, I saw them in the courtyard talking and today during passing period, I saw them walking through the halls together. And it irked me. So much.

"Gabriella, can you come down here for a minute?" I hear my mom yell at me.

Ugh. I was in the middle of something mom. I kicked off my heels and ran out of my room real fast. I wanted to get this done before Morgan left in a bit.

My mom was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for me. "What, mom? I'm a little busy right now.

"Why are you wearing that?"

"Um, I was trying on dresses for tomorrow," I look down at it, not knowing why she sounded a little horrified. What's going on?

She shakes her head and then proceeds to tell me why she called me down here, "you have a visitor coming, but I didn't know you'd be wearing THAT so um, I buzzed him in, and he should be here any minute now..."

"What are you talking about, mom?"

She didn't answer me, though. She grabbed some papers from the table and then walked away. And as soon as she was out of my sight, I turned towards the elevator whose doors were about to open. Who could be visiting me at 8 pm on a Friday night? Oh God, please don't tell me it's Greg. Ugh.

But nope. It wasn't Greg Miller. Not even close.

It was Troy.

And he was coming towards me carrying my favorite jacket of all time.

"Troy," I breathe out, "what are you doing here?" Well, obviously, I know. He's returning my jacket. But I'm playing dumb, of course.

He didn't say much and I had no idea why. He was just sort of staring at me. And it wasn't creeping me out, but I was just confused by it all. Like, talk to me.

And then I looked down and realized I was in a dress. A really nice dress. Fuck. Embarrassing.

"Oh, um," I started to explain myself, but I couldn't find the words. I was so flabbergasted and ugh. It was embarrassing.

"Are you going somewhere?"

I shake my head and laugh a little. I composed myself and tried to make light of this incredibly awkward situation. "Oh um, no, I was just trying on dresses for tomorrow when my mom told me to come downstairs and um, yeah, I had no idea what she wanted... but I guess now I do."

He gives me a small smile and holds up my jacket, "yeah, um, sorry, maybe it's late, but I was in the area and wanted to drop this off. My aunt found it on the couch the other day. I guess you left it."

"Oh right," I grabbed it from him, "yeah, thank you."

I don't know how I left my jacket there. It was a chilly day, but I think I had a sweater on under my jacket so I didn't think twice about it when leaving. Yeah, that had to have been it.

He stood there and put one hand in his pocket and scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Are you wearing that to the party?"

Oh. Um. No. I'm not going to ask him if I should. That's fucking weird. "Oh, I don't know yet. I was just trying on dresses, trying to decide, but I haven't really made a decision yet. Maybe."

"You should."

What? Did I hear that correctly? He's telling me I should wear this. "What?"

He smiles a bit, "you should wear it, it looks nice on you."

Umm okay, I could just faint right now. But no, I can't. Keep it together, Gabriella. Don't be weird. Many guys have given you compliments before. But this, this is from Troy. A guy I'm interested in and so it means so much more. But what exactly does it mean? Ugh.

"Yeah, maybe," I tell him, so I don't sound weird about it. Like, yeah, I'll wear it for you. Ya know?

"Well, I should get going. Matt's waiting in the car, I just wanted to drop that off," he tells me backing up a little bit, "but um, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, for sure," I tell him walking towards him to sort of walk him out. But walking him out in the place means walking a few feet to the elevator and opening it for him. Ha. There's no way I'm going down like this. No. "Thanks again."

He steps into the elevator and turns around and smiles and me, "Goodnight."

And then the elevators door close and as soon as they do, I close my eyes and take a deep breath. I cannot believe that just happened.

I ran back upstairs and Morgan was laying on my bed flipping through another magazine. Shit. I forgot she was here for a minute.

"Who was it?"

"Oh, um, Troy Bolton," I tell her going to my closet, "he came to drop off my jacket."

I can hear her sit up on my bed and when I walk out of my closet, yep, she's sitting up and the magazine is tossed to the side. "Stacy and Matt's cousin? Why does he have your jacket?"

"I left it over there when I was working on our project together."

They all know I've been working on a project with him and they know he's hot, but they also know that I'd tell them if I was interested and I haven't so they haven't really said anything about it. But I know I'm going to have to tell her now. He came to my house on a Friday night to drop off my jacket. She's going to ask questions and heck, even I have questions.

She looked at me like she was confused about it. "Okay, wait, Troy Bolton brought you your jacket at 8 pm on a Friday instead of giving it to you at school?"

Umm, I guess so. "Maybe he forgot or he didn't want to carry it around at school, I don't know."

"You guys have first period together, he wouldn't have had to carry it around," she points out, "oh my gosh, is he into you?"

Okay, now, I have to loop Morgan in. I trust ALL of them. But with Savannah, it was different, I don't know. I didn't make it a point to hide it from her, but the rest, I don't know. I really don't know. Maybe because they'd be a little more meddly. They'd meddle.

But I don't know if he's into me and that's the truth. "I don't know, Morgan, I'm actually trying to figure that out myself."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'm into him and I want to know if he's into me."

"Wait, what?!" she practically screams, "you like a boy and you didn't tell ME?"

I rolled my eyes as I unzipped the back of my dress and took off my glasses to put on my dresser, "Look, yes, I like him and stuff, but it's recent and I don't know, I didn't want many people knowing because I honestly don't know if he's interested. There are times when I think he is, but then I think not. It's really frustrating and quite embarrassing because I've never liked someone who doesn't like me. And that sounds bad, but it's true. So I don't know."

"Gabs," Morgan gets off my bed and comes over to me, "are you crazy? Of course he's into you."

"You don't know that," I push past her and grab my phone from my dresser, "it's been a month of hanging out and he literally has not asked me to hang out once. Like outside of this project."

"Maybe he's shy," she shrugs, "because seriously, who wouldn't be interested in you? You're hot, you're smart, you're funny!"

She's my best friend, she's supposed to say that. And it's exactly what Savannah told me, so. "Thanks, Morg, but I don't know. Like tonight, the way he stared at me, I thought, maybe he's interested, but yeah I'm sure in a week I won't think that. It's confusing."

Morgan nodded, "guys are confusing, but also very simple. He will make a move if he's interested. Trust me. If you're that into him, just wait it out. And I can tell you are, since you haven't hooked up with someone since school started and now I know why. You were into him the whole time."

I laughed. I knew they would get a little suspicious. If I'm not dating anyone, I'm usually hooking up with someone. It's fun. And I mean, why not?

"We'll see..."

But I'm not getting my hopes up, that's for sure.


	13. Chapter 13

I went with the black Alexander McQueen dress because Morgan told me it'd be a small message to Troy. It'd let him know that maybe I wore this because he said it looked good on me. And I mean, maybe she's right. It's a subtle way of flirting, right?

And also, everyone's wearing white.

I'm looking around the room and so many people are in white. Thank God I went with black. The black dresses are for sure standing out.

"Gabriella!"

I turned around and saw Lizzie Stevens standing there with some champagne in her hand and a water in the other,"oh my gosh, I LOVE your dress, where did you get it? It's sooo pretty. No, not even pretty, like so hot."

Lizzie was the cutest. I couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks, girl. It's Alexander McQueen, my mom bought it. But I love your dress, too. Is it Chanel?"

"It is," she smiled, "damn, you're good at these designer brands."

I am. "Is Mark here?"

She nodded, "yeah, he's probably grabbing himself some food or something," she rolled her eyes at her boyfriend of a year, "but yeah, I just wanted to tell you that you look hot. I have to get this champagne to Tiffany, but I'll see you later."

Lizzie was off and the minute she left my sight, Charlotte came up to me and handed me a vodka soda. "I just saw Kimberly Jackson wearing the dress I was going to wear first. Thank God I decided to change, I hate that bitch. She's sooo annoying."

See! It's not just me that thinks this. She is annoying.

And I couldn't help but think of her and Troy now. Do they have something going on? Like, yeah, she's really pretty, but annoying. Doesn't he see that?

"I don't know what anyone would see in her."

I'm mainly talking about Troy, but Char doesn't know that yet. She'll probbably be the next to know to be honest. Well, if there's anything to tell.

We go and meet up with the rest of the girls and sit down to have dinner which consists of steak, shrimp skewers, mashed potatoes, fries, steamed veggies, so many good things. Seriously, Katherine knows how to throw a party and she always has the BEST food.

After we ate, we mingled and danced and mingled some more.

I saw Troy earlier in the night, I said hi to him, he said hi to me and then we sort of just went our separate ways.

And I haven't ran into him since. But I have seen him. In fact, I'm currently looking at him right now. He's by the bar, he's leaning against it actually and he's with Kimberly, of course. She's laughing at something he said and she playfully hits his arm. And I seriously just can't take it. I've never felt this before. I've never had this feeling. Seeing a guy I like with some other girl flirting or whatever the fuck they were doing. So I had to get out of there.

I turned around, grabbed my drink and headed to the garden of this place. Every place had a garden, thank God. It was a place to escape for me.

* * *

It was so peaceful out here. I was a little bit cold, but my dress was long sleeve so I was okay.

5 minutes out here turned into 20 minutes so I probably should head back in. I could tell my friends I was talking to my mom so they wouldn't think I was crazy for just being out here. They've never seem me like this- sad over a boy. But I guess there's a first for everything, right?

And the minute I was going to grab my drink and turn around to leave, I heard the door shut closed.

Someone was up here.

I turned around and there was Troy Bolton walking towards me. Fuck. Why is he here and why is he coming towards me? How did he know I was even here? Wasn't he too caught up in Kimberly to even notice I was up here?

"Hey," he calls out to me. God, he's so hot.

"Hi," I tell him.

He comes closer and I could see his blue eyes twinkling. How could someone not like him? Seriously. "What are you doing out here all by yourself?"

I shrugged and turned around to grab my drink and took a sip, "just needed some fresh air."

"Are you not enjoying yourself?"

Okay, fine, I'm not really. I mean, I hate to be that girl that's not having fun because of some guy. Some guy who down the road might not even be worth it, but I am being that girl tonight and I hate it. I'm moody. I'm sad. I'm just... ugh. I don't want to be here anymore. I want to be home, snuggled up in bed.

I really didn't know how to answer him, though, because I'm sure he could tell by my face. "It's okay."

He nodded and came over and stood by me and looked out over the ledge at downtown New York. We were on the highest floor of the building and could see everything. It was breathtaking and beautiful.

"Well, at least you look nice," he tells me, "you went with that dress?"

I looked over at him and he was looking straight ahead. I wanted to smile, but I was a little mad at him. "Yeah. I figured everyone was gonna be in white."

He laughed and nodded. "Yeah, you were right about that."

Ugh. I'm so fed up with this. I wanted to cut the crap. I didn't want small talk. I didn't want mixed signals. But I also didn't want to come out and be straight up with him about my feelings. So I took a more subtle approach. "What are you doing out here?"

He looked over at me and looked like he just offended me or something. "Oh, I'm sorry, did you want to be alone?"

"I'm just wondering why you're here instead of in the party," I tell him.

"I don't know, I saw you come up here and I wanted to see if you were okay," he shrugs, "I mean, why else would you leave?"

Okay, ummm. Sure. If he came up right away, that would have been believable but it's been 20 minutes. I've been up here for 20 minutes by myself. "You didn't see me come up here. I've been up here for like twenty minutes. What took you so long then?"

He didn't say much. He just continued staring out into the night sky and his blue eyes glistened and it's honestly so annoying how beautiful they are.

"I wasn't gonna rush up here if you wanted to be by yourself," he tells me and okay, whatever.

"Look, I'm fine, you can head back."

But he didn't. He just stood there and didn't say much else to me.

Like, what does he want from me? Is he really concerned? Did he just want some fresh air as well or what? I don't know. All I know is that I don't really want to be around him anymore because it only makes me sad, mad and annoyed. Especially since I just saw him with Kimberly.

So I think I was gonna go.

But he turned to me and in a way stopped me. "I don't know why you're up here when everyone's downstairs having a lot of fun."

Ugh. "I'm just not really in the mood, but I guess I can ask you the same thing."

He chuckled a bit. "I mean, I needed a breather as well."

Oh of course he did. I heard Kimberly was an aggressive kisser. An aggressive flirt. Everything. And that's probably why she can't keep a boyfriend. Wait. Me neither. I can't keep a guy. Fuck. Are me and Kimberly the same? NO way. I'm not annoying, am I? Well, obviously to some people. I can't please everyone.

"Okay," I mumbled, "whatever."

I turned back to looking out into New York. It was really beautiful and I really did not want to go back inside yet anymore. I thought I did, but nope.

And I wasn't going to let him run me out of here. Nope. He could leave and I'm going to stay.

Troy didn't leave, though. He was still there and it was pissing me off. Like, does he know and he's just trying to torture me or what? Did someone tell him that I have a crush on him and he's up here making me sweat it out? What other reason does he have for being up here?

"Look, if you're not gonna leave, then I will," I tell him, "I'd like to be alone."

"Why do you want to be alone?" he pesters me.

"No particular reason," I quickly glance at him, "don't you have people to get back to?"

He chuckles and shakes his head a bit and then continues to stare off. He rolls his sleeves up a bit and then he runs his hands through his hair before he turns to me. "Can you maybe lighten up so I can make a move?"

Wait. What? What did he just say to me? No. I'm imagining this, right? I have to be. There's NO way he just told me that straight up. Nooo.

"What?" I somehow manage to get out.

"I came up here for a reason but it's not really for the reason I told you," he tells me and then gives me a small smile as he scoots in closer and I seriously stop breathing. "I didn't see you come up here. I looked everywhere for you and here you are..."

Okay, no, I don't, obviously. But my throat is dry. I'm like frozen, pretty much and I honestly can't believe what I'm hearing. He didn't see me come up here. He looked for me. He wanted to see me. Which means he likes me, right? Oh my gosh. Am I dreaming? I HAVE TO BE DREAMING. I have to be.

I turned to him, my body fully facing his and his facing mine. "What are you talking about?"

He closed the space between us a little bit and looked straight into my eyes, "I'm going to kiss you now, stop me anytime if you want."

Obviously, I don't want to stop him. I want to kiss him more than anything.

So I don't. He closes the gap between us and his lips touch mine and fireworks explode. Not literally. But in my head. Fireworks are exploding. Butterflies are forming, and my heart is pounding which I'm pretty sure he can feel.

I'm kissing Troy Bolton on the garden rooftop of one of the best buildings in New York. I mean, are you kidding me right now? This is how my night is turning out? 30 minutes ago, I was a mess. Not completely, but I was so annoyed that Kimberly got Troy. That she had the balls to flirt with him. And that he might somehow be into her or something. But here is he, kissing me. So that means he's into me, right? It has to.

And I can feel it.

He has one hand on my face and the other behind my head, slowly in my hair and my arms are snaked around his neck and I'm deepening the kiss as he's smiling into it and in turn, it makes me smile into it. I've never smiled into a kiss before. I've never smiled while kissing. This is new. And different.

But we have to break apart for air. And when we do, he's smiling down on me while his hand is still resting on my face.

And my whole mood has change- dramatically.

"This is exactly why I came up here," he whispers, "in hopes of doing that."

"I'm sorry I was being a bitch," I tell him, my arms now off to my side and it's probably not romantic at all and I might be ruining the moment, but I don't think anything could ruin the moment we just had. It was seriously perfect. "I don't know..."

"I don't care," he shrugs it off, "you didn't stop me so I don't even care what happened before that."

Me neither. I didn't care about my shitty night. I didn't care that Kimberly was talking to him and he seemed to be enjoying his time. I didn't care that Kate Thompson had almost the exact same dress as me which made me upset. I didn't care that my phone died. I just didn't care about anything that went bad today anymore. I didn't.

And it was all because of Troy. This moment. Us kissing.

Which we continued to do for the next five minutes before going back inside the party.

It was perfect.

* * *

"So you're not into Kimberly Jackson?" I ask Troy as we're walking into my place after exiting the elevator later that night.

"Kimberly Jackson?" he asks back as if it's such a far fetched question.

I really didn't want to ruin the night, but it's been a few hours since we've kissed and I just wanted to know. I only saw her once during the party after we came back from the garden rooftop and that was that. They didn't interact after that because well, he was by my side hanging out.

I kicked off my heels and put my clutch down on the table and nodded, "yeah, everywhere I turned, you guys were talking and stuff."

He looked at me and a small smile appeared on his face, "I'm not into Kimberly Jackson."

"What's with the smile?"

"I don't know, is that why you were upset earlier?"

Fuck. I'm caught. He now knows I was upset over that. But then again, my mood completely changed after we kissed so he had to have known that had an impact, right? He's not dumb. I'm sure he put two and two together and realized that maybe I had seen him with her and that's why I was moody.

And I shouldn't even try to hide it. "You kept giving me mixed signals, I didn't know if you were into me or not and when I was thinking that yes, maybe you are into me, I see you with Kimberly."

We walked over to the living room and took a seat on the couch, but before I did, I grabbed a blank from the sofa chair and brought it over to us.

It was only 12:10 AM. The party was still going on, but I was tired so Troy offered to bring me home.

"Well, you weren't wrong about me being into you," he tells me as I cover myself, "I just didn't have the balls until tonight when I saw how amazing you looked, I knew I had to make a move before someone else did."

Oh my gosh. Butterflies.

"She's just a friend," he continues, "she's in my math class and I mean, maybe she's into me, but I'm not into her. At all."

"Good," I say a little too loudly and soon, "I mean, that's good because well, frankly, she's pretty annoying."

He laughed and threw his head back and then put his arm over me on the couch and gave me this look that sent chills up my spine. I honestly don't know how I got so lucky. How in the world this guy is into me and is currently sitting on the couch with me right now. I really don't. But I'm okay with it.

Troy moved some hair out of my face and then leaned down and gave me a small peck on the lips, "I'm only into you, if that's what you were wondering."

I sort of was, but I didn't want to just come out and say it, obviously.

"Since when?"

Once everything is out there and I know a guy is into me, I'm so much more open about everything. I don't have a problem with texting or calling guys first or making plans with them. I don't have a problem spilling my feelings. I guess because I'm secure.

He gave me a small smile and shrugged, "I always found you attractive, like way out of my league attractive, of course, but I think the moment I really thought to myself, 'man, I think I like this girl' was that one afternoon where I came over to work on the project and you were in the kitchen talking to Lupe and I was coming back from the bathroom and I overheard your guy's conversation. On accident. I promise I wasn't trying to."

"What were we saying?" I don't even remember.

"She was telling you about her grandkids and her family and your guys backs were turned to me so I was able to just watch and I don't know, the way you would light up at pictures she'd show you or how interested you genuinely seemed in whatever she had going on, it was nice. It was nice to see that here. Because I love Stacy, she's my cousin, but we all know she doesn't give a shit about her maid's son that goes to public school, you know?"

Oh wow. I remember that conversation completely. Her youngest grandson learned how to say grandma and he was trying for so long and she always told me about them and I knew them, too, so when he finally was able to say it, I was SO happy for her because she lives for her grand kids. And kids.

The fact that something that simple can make him like me, though, is a true testament to how people are in New york and it's really sad.

"Is that why when I walked back to the table, you were just smiling at me and I called you out on it?"

"Yes," he laughed, "that's exactly why."

I couldn't believe it. That's why he was smiling. "And what took you three weeks to make a move? Why not?"

Troy shrugged and moved his arm from behind my back to in front of him, "I don't know. I'm obviously in this world now, but at the same time, I'm not. Yeah, I grew up here. I lived here until I was 5. But Chicago is my home. That's all I really know and it's not like this at all. I'm a normal guy and everyone here is so fancy and important- you're no different whether you like it or not."

I'm not going to try to disagree because it's true. I'm a little socialite here. My mom's a socialite and a business woman. And my dad. Well, a business man.

This is my world and I know it's not really his, but he's stuck with it for now, whether he likes it or not.

"I get it."

"But you're different and I started seeing that more and more," he explains to me, "and I just thought, enough is enough. Someone else is going to sweep her off her feet so I better get to her first. Literally had no expectations, but here we are, so I think it worked out in my favor."

"And in mine," I tell him. It definitely worked out in mine. But I wasn't going to let him know that I'd been crushing on him say day one, basically.

Nope. I was just going to sit here and lay my head on his chest while we watched some TV.

What a perfect night.


	14. Chapter 14

What the heck, where am I?

I opened my eyes some more and then realized exactly where I was. I'm in my living room and my head is on someone's chest. Oh my gosh.

And yep, it's Troy. I'm sleeping on top of Troy and I assume I did so all night.

I slowly get up but it doesn't wake him up at all. He turns a bit on the couch, but his eyes are still closed and he's pulling the blanket up to cover him so yes, it's safe to assume that he is still sound asleep. And I'm here, wondering what the hell happened. I don't remember falling asleep at all.

Fuck.

Where are my parents? Did they see us? Oh God, I really hope not.

I quickly grab my phone and check the time. It's 9 AM. Shit. Yep, they definitely saw us.

My parents are always, always, always up by 8 on Sundays. We go to church at 9, well most of the time, and since they're in town and they didn't have a big party the night before, I can also assume that that's where they are and they did indeed go. But who knows.

I tiptoe around the living room and once it's safe, I walk normally to head upstairs. I'm about to go to my room when I see a note on the table.

_Gabriella, _

_We didn't want to wake you. You looked way too comfortable wrapped in the arms of Troy. _

_Your father, Josh, and I went to church and then we're getting some breakfast and going shopping with grandma. _

_We'll be home no later than 2. We have dinner with the Jeffersons planned, please don't make any plans. _

_And also, we'll talk about this later. _

_Love you, _

_Mom. _

Okay, the note wasn't too bad, right? She did sign it off with a "love you" and if she was really mad about the whole thing, she would have woke me up and kicked Troy out of the house. Immediately. Trust me. She's done that with Ryan and his parents are good friends with mine so that didn't play a factor. My mom's tough and headstrong. She'll do what she wants and when she wants.

I bring the note with me upstairs and place it on my dresser while I go to the bathroom and wash my face and brush my teeth.

And I just couldn't stop myself from smiling.

Now that I think about it, I had a good night's sleep. And it was all because of Troy, I guess. I don't remember waking up once. I didn't move much because we were in the same position as we were when we were watching TV basically. But I literally just don't remember falling asleep. Oh well...

I went into my closet and slipped out of my dress and into some yoga pants and a cream sweater.

And then I put my hair up in a pony tail and looked at myself in the mirror. Eh, I'm in my house. I can't put on a cute outfit at nine in the morning if I'm not going anywhere. So this will do.

He's still sleeping on the couch by the time I get back downstairs and I really don't want to wake him. He looks so comfortable and cute sleeping.

So I don't.

I go to the kitchen and get out some eggs, some pancake mix, some bacon and sausage and prepare to make some breakfast for when he wakes up. Or just for me if he decides to go. I'm pretty hungry. My last meal was at like 8 pm last night so it's way past my time to eat.

And as the bacon was sizzling on the pan and I was getting the pancake mix to perfection, I heard a yawn and someone walking.

"Good morning," I look up at Troy who still looks sleepy as hell.

"Morning," he rubs his eyes and comes towards me, "we um, we fell asleep?"

I nod as I mix the pancake mix a little more, "I guess so. I mean, I don't remember but obviously if you're still here." I couldn't help, but laugh a little at it. The first night we hook up and here he is, spending the night. Obviously it wasn't planned, but still, a little funny.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, "I don't know how that happened. I didn't even realize I was that tired."

"No, it's fine, I think I rather have you spent the night than hailing a taxi at 2 in the morning or whatever time it was. Seriously, it's okay."

"Well, okay," he smiles at me.

It's more than okay, really. "Do you want some breakfast? My parents and brother went without me so I thought I'd make me some. Well, us."

He looks around at all that I was making and nodded, "sure, after I brush my teeth. Well, rinse it out with some toothpaste. Mine if I borrow some, I didn't really bring any."

I laughed and shook my head. If he knew I was sort of in trouble with my mom, I don't know if he'd be making those jokes, but whatever, they were funny to me. I went to my parents room which was down the hall as opposed to upstairs and grabbed their bottle of toothpaste and an extra toothbrush that they always have for unexpected guests. I also grabbed him some face wash if he wanted to wash his face, which I'm sure he did.

He went to take care of all of that and I went back to my cooking.

I poured the pancake mix into a pan and began making my signature pancakes. Seriously, they're so fluffy and good. I really don't know where I got the cooking gene from. Definitely not my mother.

The bacon was done and so were the sausages so I laid them out on a plate and then poured the scrambled eggs into a small bowl alongside of it.

I flipped my pancakes and while they other side was cooking, I went to the fridge and grabbed the orange juice.

And when the pancakes were golden brown to perfection, Troy emerged into the kitchen looking as hot as ever. Seriously, does this guy ever look bad? The answer is no. I'm sure of it.

"This all smells amazing," he tells me grabbing the bowl of eggs and the bacon and sausages and taking them over to the table, "if you do this every morning, I might have to spend the night ever night of the week."

Oh, how I wish. I looked over at him and smirked and of course he told me he was kidding.

Grabbing the pancakes and putting them on the plate, I balanced that with the orange juice and also a bowl of freshly cut strawberries and bananas.

"I hope you like everything," I tell him, a little bit worried. Yeah, I cook, but not often. So I honestly don't know if everything will be good. Haa. Well, actually I do know that my pancakes for sure will be good. Like, I'm the queen of making pancakes. Lupe cannot ever make me pancakes. Ever.

"I'm sure I will," he tells me looking down at everything, "I mean, it smells amazing."

"Thank you," I finally sit down next to him.

My table in my kitchen is a little weird. It's half booth, half table. I love it. And I love how I can sit next to him but it not be weird or awkward. Like, you know when you go to a restaurant and the couple is sitting on the same side of the booth? That is fucking awkward. And yeah, it's the same here, but it's slightly different because it's not straight across. It's sort of looping around. I don't know how to explain it. All I know is that it's not awkward.

I grab some egg and put it on my plate along with some bacon and sausage and then squeeze some ketchup on the side.

Troy does the same thing as me and before we start digging in, he turns and looks at me.

"What?"

"Nothing," he tells me with a small smile, "I just forgot to do this."

He leans down and gives me a kiss on the lips. It's short and sweet but it's the most perfect kiss. "Good morning."

Oh my gosh. He's so cute. He's so adorable. And I seriously just want him to stay here all day so we can cuddle and kiss and reminisce about last night. It wasn't a dream. It seriously happened and I'm the luckiest girl in the world, I think. He seems too good to be true. And I know it's easy, but I have a good feeling about this one.

"Good morning," I smile at him.

It was a good morning, indeed. And I hope we have more of these in our future.

* * *

"Mom, it just happened, okay?" I turn around so I can roll my eyes at her and go over to the couch to get my phone, "but nothing happened."

"I know nothing happened, but still, Gabriella," she crosses her arms across her chest, "you barely know the guy."

"So?"

She furrows her eyebrows, "So? He could have very well pretended to fall asleep and I don't know, take everything from our house."

Oh my gosh. She actually thinks he'll steal from us? Troy Bolton? Well, I mean, I guess she doesn't know him like I do. And yeah, I guess I don't know him that well, but I feel like I know him well enough to know he would never do that to me. Or to us.

"Mom, he's not like that," I defend him, "I thought you liked him!"

"I do, Gabriella, I think he's a very nice, sweet boy, but you never know, okay?"

She's right about never knowing, but I just felt like he would never do that. He doesn't care about the money. He doesn't care about our status in New York. He likes me for me and I'm sure of it. But I know where she's coming from. And I know she's being protective and that's fine, I love her for that, but I really don't want her putting those ideas in my head because sooner or later, I don't want that image or to begin thinking that it might be true, you know? I like this guy and I want it to stay that way.

So I'm not going to argue with her. "Okay, mom, I'm sorry. We were both just really tired, I guess. It won't happen again."

"Thank you," she gives me a small smile before sitting down on the couch and motioning for me to take a seat next to her, "so, tell me what happened."

"It was romantic, but not really," I chuckle a bit, "I don't care, though, because it was the best first kiss of my life."

I sat down next to her and threw my phone down next to me. Troy was texting me, but I could wait to text him back. I didn't want to be that girl who texts back right away. I got comfortable next to my mom and turned my body towards her, while bringing my legs up and sitting on them.

My mom was already smiling, and I know she wants to know every single little detail.

"I honestly didn't know if he was into me or not and it was driving me absolutely crazy," I start out.

"Who wouldn't be into you?"

"Mom," I roll my eyes a bit, "please just let me tell you everything and keep your commentary to yourself until the end."

She gave me a small smile and nodded. Okay where was I?

Oh right. "Yeah, I mean, one minute, he'll do something that will make me think he's interested and then the next, I'll think, oh yeah, no he's not into me. Like he ditched his friends and stayed behind with me and Savannah and hung out when we ran into them at Slate. And he brought me home. But then a few days after that, I see him talking to Kimberly Jackson and he was laughing and she was laughing and I felt like there was something going on there."

"Kimberly Jackson?" my mom asks while making a small sour face, "oh, sorry, sorry, my commentary, I'll stop."

I couldn't help, but laugh. See! Kimberly Jackson is annoying and I honestly don't know how he doesn't see it. Most of us see it. Oh well.

Where was I going with this? Oh, yeah... "and then just grabbing sushi during our project and hanging out and talking, but at the same time, he didn't make a move. He had been here long enough I think to get to know me and he wasn't doing anything about it so I just thought he wasn't interested. Again, I'd see him with Kimberly and think, yeah, he's not into me. She's gorgeous."

She is gorgeous. And that's why I was hating on them so much. Sure, she's annoying, but her looks probably trump that, for sure.

"Anyway, the night before the party, he came by to drop off a jacket. A jacket he could have gave to me and school and he told me I looked nice and it just made me think that maybe he is into me."

"Well, yeah, he came to drop off your jacket on a Friday night," she chuckles, "who does that?"

Exactly. That's what I said.

But then again, here we go with Kimberly Jackson. "Okay, so we're at the party and before I even see him, I see someone with a very similar dress so I'm already annoyed about that. And then right after that, my phone died. And 20 minutes later, I see him and Kimberly and she's laughing and throwing her head back and they just seemed like they were having a good time so that's when I kind of just checked out and went on the garden rooftop by myself."

I thought back to that night, even though it was a few nights ago, and smiled. God, it was so perfect to me.

Yet, I hate how it began. I was such a bitch.

"Basically, he came up and asked what I was doing there and I was just being a bitch because of what I saw and have been seeing and all the mixed signals so I was just over it and on top of that, all the shitty things that were happening to me were just making for a not so great night."

I mean, it could have been worse now that I think about it.

Was I being too dramatic or was I fine? Eh, whatever.

"Anyway," I continued, "he asked what I was doing up there, blah, blah, blah. I was being super short with him. Super bitchy. And then he told me if I could maybe lighten up so he could make a move."

My mom's mouth hung wide open and that was my exact same reaction, yet I kept my mouth closed, but I swear, it was happening on the inside.

I laughed and nodded, "Yeah, I couldn't believe he said that, but it broke the tension for sure and next thing, I knew, we were kissing and it was magical. We were on the rooftop garden of one of he nicest buildings in New York. I couldn't have planned it better myself. And I mean, I guess I'm glad it happened then because it really was perfect. And realistic. I don't know why I expected him to just kiss me after 2 weeks of knowing me, you know?"

"Maybe because most boys want to," my mom points out, "you know that's true."

"But probably because of who my parents are," I point out back, "and what I have, you know?"

"Yeah, that's a possibility."

It probably is. "I don't know. I feel like this is different. And it feels different," it really does. "And when we got back here, I called him out on Kimberly and he said he wasn't interested in her so that's good. I was just being paranoid."

My mom smiled at me and she looked genuinely happy for me. "You need a nice boy and that's exactly what Troy is. Well, from what I've seen of him."

He was a nice boy. And I know he's different than all of the other guys I've ever hung out with. I just hope I really cling to that and not do what everyone thinks I do- toss them off to the side when I get bored. Because I really don't want that to happen anymore. With anyone.

"I like him," I shrug, "and I'm excited to see where things go."

"Just take it nice and slow," my mom reminds me. She always tells me this, "you'll be fine."

Yeah, I hope so.


	15. Chapter 15

"So, Will and I are officially together," Savannah announces with a squeal as we're all sat around our usual table at Cafe Boulud, "it happened yesterday."

"Ahhhh!" We all exclaimed in excitement.

Will and Savannah are literally the cutest. They were getting to know each other a week before summer started but they put it on pause because they were both going to be out of town for the summer and when they got back, they just picked things back up and started hanging out and now I guess they're official which is so exciting. Savannah's last boyfriend cheated on her and Will is the sweetest. She needs someone like him, for sure.

And she looked SO happy, too. "Did he straight up ask you and plan it out or was it super casual?"

"I mean, he planned date night and it was sweet, so yeah, maybe he planned it? Even though it seemed more of a spontaneous thing, like it felt right to ask me so he did."

"I'm so happy for you, S," I tell her grabbing my lemonade, "seriously, he's so nice."

"Right?" she agrees, "like he's still in our world so get gets it, but at the same time, I feel like he's so different. I don't know. I'm happy."

Awww, we're all happy for her.

We're currently at Cafe Boulud, a cafe here in the Upper East Side, having dinner and catching up. Well, not really catching up, but just talking. Well, at times it is catching up. It's Monday. We have a tradition of coming here every single Monday no matter what. Okay, family emergencies, school stuff and doctor or dentist appointments we can't get out of are the exceptions. But usually, every Monday, we'll meet up here for dinner and just talk. About our weekends if we don't spend them with each other. About life. About school. We started it freshman year when we felt we were old enough to just go to a restaurant just the five of us and we've been keeping up with it ever since. It's fun. It's important. And I love it. It keeps us close. It keeps us informed. I'll never get tired of it.

And this is the place where I should probably tell EVERYONE about Troy Bolton and the fact that he kissed me Saturday night.

But I don't want to take Savannah's shine away from her.

She talked about Will and her some more and how this coming weekend they're driving to New Jersey to visit her grandma and he's tagging along so he could meet her. And that's seriously so cute and how you know she's serious about him.

"Brendan and I are gonna be away this weekend, too. We're going to New Haven this weekend for his cousin's sweet 16 so I'm not going to Tish's party," Morgan tells us once Savannah is done telling us about her and Will.

Morgan and Brendan. They're been together since the summer before junior year so over a year. Yeah, sounds about right. And they were the cutest, ever.

She was so in love with him. "That's fun. Are you guys driving or flying?"

"Flying," she tells me as if it's not even an option to drive, "yeah, no, road trips with him are the worst. He doesn't like any of my music!"

"Wow, how are you guys still together?"

Morgan glared at Cassie, but she knew it was a joke. 'Are you guys gonna go to Tish's party?"

I wasn't planning on it. I know Char wasn't planning on it, but I don't know about Cassie. Her parents are good friends with Tish's party so I assume, maybe? Who knows. I don't know what I'm doing this weekend, actually. But I do hope I spend some of it with Troy.

Troy.

Ah, I couldn't stop thinking about him. Well, I could, but it was hard.

"I'm not going," I tell Morgan, "we just had this black and white party and in two weeks it's our annual Halloween party so no, I'm taking a break."

"Ahh, our annual Halloween party," Char perked up, "I am so excited about that. My mom has most of it under control, but we definitely need to meet together later this week to figure out who's making it on the guest list this year."

"Agreed," they all said.

And now's the perfect time to tell them about Troy. "You can add Troy Bolton to the list this year."

Savannah and Morgan looked at me, since they're the only ones that know, and their eyes widened a bit but I let them know that it was time to tell them. They don't even know that we ended up hooking up on Saturday so it'll be a nice surprise for them, too. And I'm sure they'll be happy to hear.

Our Halloween party is a big blowout. Everyone who's anyone comes, but at the same time, it's very exclusive. People we've known for years or people that are really good friends of ours. And family. Family, of course.

If it was any other party, they wouldn't even blink, but because it was this party, I knew they were going to question me.

"You guys are good friends now?" Char asks me.

"Something like that," I start to smile and look over at Savannah who seems all giddy.

Char looks at Savannah and then at Morgan who's doing the exact same thing and then Cassie wondered what the hell was going on.

So I had to spill. "I've been crushing on Troy for a while now and Savannah and Morgan knew because well, they got it out of me and I've been battling with the whole, is he into me or is he not dilemma, but finally, after almost a month of hanging out, working on our project together, he kissed me at the party on Saturday and yeah, um, we talked and I think we're gonna see where this thing goes, so I want him there."

Savannah and Morgan were all giddy and happy, but Cassie and Char were still a little taken aback by what I just said.

"Wait," Char put her hand up, I think trying to piece together everything, "you liked a boy and you didn't tell us?"

"I mean, sort of, but I didn't exactly want to tell Savannah and Morgan, either," I try to defend myself, "they just got it out of me and it wasn't even anything because I didn't know at the time if he was interested in me or not."

"But you always tell us when you're crushing on a boy. The minute you are, you tell us!"

I nod, completely agreeing with her, "yeah, because they're usually crushing on me, too, and I had no idea if Troy was. It was sort of embarrassing."

Char and Cassie seemed to lighten up a bit. I know they weren't offended or anything, and I guess it was a good reason to not tell them because they know if something did happen with a guy, they'd hear about it.

But nothing was happening with Troy so there was nothing really to tell, ya know?

"So you guys hooked up on Saturday?" Morgan tried continuing the conversation after a brief moment of silence, "how, when?"

I told them everything. From the night starting out shitting, to me thinking he was into Kimberly Jackson, to us kissing on the rooftop. Oh and of course the fact that he spent the night.

And they seemed so happy for me, which in turn made me happy about the whole thing.

"I haven't really talked to him, but I know he's not from here, so maybe this will be a good thing for you," Cassie tells me as she sips on her raspberry iced tea, "I mean, the guys here aren't for you. You dump them like there's no tomorrow so maybe change is good."

And there it is again. Am I really like that?

I really don't want to be. "You think I get really bored of guys and just dump them?"

They all looked at each other and didn't really say much, but I obviously already knew the answer by what they just did.

"Well, technically, you don't dump them since you don't get to the point of being boyfriend and girlfriend," Morgan tries to make everything seem better than it is, "but yeah, I think you do tend to get bored or be very picky."

Ugh, well, if they're all saying it, then yeah, I guess I do. I just never noticed it. But I really don't want that to happen now. I want a boyfriend. I want to be with someone and have what Morgan and Brendan have. Ryan and I never really had that. We were dating, but I feel like it was 60% friendship and 40% romance and I don't know if it should really be like that in a relationship. I'm just ready to have a serious commitment with someone.

And if that's with Troy, great. If not, well, then whatever. But it's what I want. So I'm changing my ways.

I have to be more patient, I have to realize that people aren't going to be perfect and live up to my standards.

"You guys are right," I tell them, "from now on, Gabriella Elizabeth Montez is going to give every single guy a chance and not ride them off after one annoying comment they make or have a habit that I despise."

"Yesss," Morgan smiled.

And everyone was happy with it. I guess I was a bigger bitch than I thought. Ha.

* * *

"Are you busy tonight?" A voice came over my shoulder as I was walking out of school on Thursday afternoon.

"No," I turned around and came face to face with the gorgeous Troy Bolton.

He smiled at me and he looked as cute as ever. In his school uniform with a pea coat on. So New York. "Want to get something to eat? And maybe you can come to the bookstore with me?"

That's our common interest. Books. I love, love, love reading and he loves reading, too. So it's perfect. On Tuesday, we spent almost an hour just scanning through books and it was seriously so much fun. It was out first hang out as people who are into each other and it was easy and relaxing and we were seriously laughing the whole time while checking out books. I got a couple and he got one.

"You're done reading your book already?"

"No," he shakes his head as we continue to walk out of school, "this book just came out that I really want to read so I want to go and buy it."

"Oh, well yeah, I'm always down for a trip to the bookstore," I tell him holding on to my textbooks.

I love that I'm the one that dragged him to a bookstore before he even confessed to being into me because now it doesn't seem like I'm into reading because he's into reading, you know? I would hate for him to think that.

We stopped at the bottom of the stairs and decided what we should do. Most of the time I walk to school because it's literally down the street, but when I'm late of course, I just use my driver.

But today, I didn't. We could easily go and have Martin give us a ride or hail a cab, but the bookstore is only about three blocks.

"Let's just walk," he shrugs and I really don't want to say no. I don't mind it, but today, I'm carrying textbooks and walking is the last thing I want to do.

"Sure," I tell him as I hang on tighter to my books.

We take a left and walk to the bookstore and before we even get to the end of the block, he turns to me, stops me and grabs my books from my hand, "You really didn't think I was gonna let you carry these three blocks, did you?"

Um, well, yeah kind of.

"You don't have to," I tell him trying to get them back, "they're kind of heavy."

"Which is why I'm not letting you carry them," he argues back, "you're a petite girl, so just let me."

Well, if he insists. I'm not gonna fight him on it. And to be honest, I was happy about it. My arms were hurting and I really didn't know if I could have carried them three more blocks. Textbooks are no joke. It was an incredibly sweet gesture, too.

"Thanks," I smile at him as I fix my purse on my shoulder, "but I'm carrying them on the way back to my place."

"Yeah, yeah," he waves me off.

And 10 minutes later, we're at the bookstore.

I start roaming around because I don't really have a book in mind that I want so I'm just looking while he's searching for his book. He finds it after a couple of minutes, but lets me do my thing. He also roams around for some other good books and he ends up finding a book he always wanted to ready.

So he gets both and I end up getting none, which is okay.

We left and I took my textbooks back since he bought two books and I wasn't going to let him carry them.

But instead of walking back, we hailed a cab. Thank God. It was sort of by my house by in a different direction. I don't really know how to explain it, so it would have been four blocks of walking as opposed to the three from school.

"Do you wanna come up?" I ask him. It's only 3:30 and I mean, we still have time to hang out, "we can do some homework or something."

"Yeah, you want to?"

Duh. "Yeah, I'm sure Lupe also has something good to eat. Are you hungry at all?"

It looks like he doesn't really want to say yes, but I know he is. All guys are hungry at all times. So I answer for him, "Come on,"I pulled him out of the cab and then gave the cab driver a five dollar bill, "let's go."

* * *

"I. can't. breathe," I tell Troy dramatically, but honestly, it hurts to, "stop. That did not happen."

"It did happen!"

I couldn't stop laughing. Oh my gosh. Troy and I were exchanging our most embarrassing stories and his for sure tops mine and I'm sitting here at my dining room table laughing my face off. Seriously, I think I might have to excuse myself soon.

But he stopped laughing so it calmed me down a little bit. "I'm glad you're enjoying my embarrassment."

"Sorry," I say between laughs, "but you gotta admit, that's so funny."

"It was," he laughed, "it was. And I'm happy I can tell it now and people can laugh at me, but seriously, when it happened, I couldn't talk about it for like years. I think I just started telling it last year."

Well, I'm glad, because it made me laugh so hard and it was the best break I've ever take from doing some homework. Ahh. This is nice. Us hanging out.

I thought I was done laughing, but just thinking about it again is making me crack up. Oh my gosh.

"Like I said, I'm glad me falling in a puddle in front of everyone is funny to you."

"No," I managed to get out, "no, that's not even the funniest part. It's what happened before and after that is making me want to cry of laughter. But okay, sorry, sorry, I'll stop.

And I did. For like thirty seconds before I went back to laughing. But after that, I was fine. I got it all out and I felt silly just laughing by myself when he's clearly had enough time to laugh about this. Okay, I'm back to being fine. Yeah, yeah, I'm good. I'm under control.

For the next 20 minutes or so, we focused on doing our math homework. We had the same teacher, but different periods so we'd help each other out.

Did you know Troy Bolton is like a math whiz? He gets just it.

I'm more of an English gal. I love English and everything about it- writing, reading, analyzing. Everything.

"So, are your parents getting closer to moving back here?" I ask him. He's told me a bit about them, but now that we're you know, sort of dating, I think it's only right if I know more. I mean, he knows my parents. And since I can't just meet his because they're in Chicago, I have to ask about them.

"Yeah, my dad has a new job lined up here which he starts mid-December," he looks up at me after closing his math book, "but they're still in the process of selling the house, which is a lot harder than they anticipated, I think. But they wanna be out here by November."

"Weird, you'd think it'd sell fast in a populous city," I think out loud, "I mean, these places go off the market so fast sometimes."

Troy nodded, "exactly. But it's fine, they have a bit of time, they just don't really want to leave it like that so they're making sure it sells before making the big move. We can't move into our place until November, anyway, so it works out."

I wanted to ask what his parents do, but coming from someone like me, I don't want it to come off as wanting to know for something other than genuine interest, you know?

"Well, I'm sure time will fly by," I tell him, "you miss them?"

"Yeah, definitely," he pushes his stuff away as he reaches for his water bottle, "especially my little sister."

Aww his little sister. I haven't heard much about his family because I'm sure he doesn't go around telling someone he barely knows about his family or yeah, anyone about them. But it's different now. We're into each other. We're hanging out as more than friends. I want to know about his family.

All I really know is that his mom and dad are still happily together, he has a five year old sister named Sienna and that's it. Oh, and they're pretty cool.

His words not mine.

But I'm sure I'd find them cool if I find Troy cool.

I want to know all about his life in Chicago, all about his family, his little sister who's 12 years younger than him and why she is. Their family dynamic and just everything pretty much. But I don't want to jump in and just ask right away. We JUST started dating. Maybe he's not comfortable yet.

"How old is she again?" I ask. I honestly don't know if she's five or seven. I keep thinking five, but I feel like it could be seven as well, I don't know.

"She's five," he tells me and then looks up at me, "I know it's a pretty big age gap."

Okay, so he acknowledges that, but I still shouldn't ask, huh? Nah, I don't want to impose. I want him to feel the need to want to tell me about it.

And I guess he does. "My mom had me when she was 17. She was just a kid. And my dad and her tried making it work, but when I was 3, they separated. Still both heavily in my life, but not together. They both had relationships, but somehow found their way back to each other at 25 when I was 8. They got married two years later and then had my sister, so my mom was still young. And yeah, I guess it worked out the way it was supposed to."

Oh wow. He just spilled two things to me. His parents story and why there's such a big age gap.

Okay, cool. We're getting comfortable around each other. Unless he doesn't care who knows about it. "That's really cool."

"I think so, too," he smiles, "means they were meant to be, you know?"

"Exactly," I agree, closing my folder and my textbook and stacking them on top of each other, "I mean, it would have been great if they didn't separate at all, but they found their way back to each other and that's all that really matters in the end."

Troy looked at me and smiled and didn't say much else.

He was just smiling.

And it was creeping me out a little bit. Okay, no, of course not. But I had no idea why. "What?"

"No, nothing," he shakes his head looking away for a second, "I just, it's easy talking to you. Like really easy."

Ahh he's tugging at my heartstrings. There's really no greater compliment than one that compliments your personality. Sure, the physical compliments make you feel good and stuff, but these kind of compliments triumph the others for me.

It was easy talking to him, too. I feel like I could tell him everything and anything, but of course, it was a little too early to tell. "I could say the same thing about you."

"I'm glad," he once again smiles, "I guess this is a good thing to have when you're starting to date someone, right?"

Oh God. I knew that's what we were doing, obviously. He kissed me, he confessed he was interested and we've hung out one on one since then. And have kissed. So yeah, I assumed. But it just feels so good hearing that. Confirmation. Reassurance. And it gets me all giddy inside. Way too giddy.

I couldn't stop smiling. "Right."

He got up and started putting all of his things in his backpack.

I got up, but just left my things on the table and went over to the living room and grabbed my phone off the charger and saw that I had 20 missed text messages but they were all from a group text with my friends and I could check them later.

"Tell Lupe thanks for the delicious sandwich," he comes up behind me, "I have to get going, I have a skype date with my family."

"Yeah, I'll tell her," I turn around to face him.

He smiles down at me before he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls me in. We connect our lips together and we're getting in the swing of things when we hear someone clear their throat from behind us.

My mom.

We break apart and turn to look at her. She's standing there carrying some mail and a bag from Chanel.

"Oh, um, hi mom," I nervously tell her, even though I shouldn't be. She's seen me kiss Ryan so many times. "Didn't hear you come in."

"I'm sure you didn't," she puts her bag down on the table along with the Chanel shopping bag and starts coming towards us, "nice to see you again, Troy. Will you be joining us for dinner tonight?"

Troy releases his arm from around my waist and gives her a small smile, "No, I can't tonight, Mrs. Montez, but thank you."

I smile at my mom and she smiles back at me and I know she's not mad.

She stands there as she flips through the mail and opens a couple of envelopes. I know Troy might feel a little awkward and I'm probably not doing a good job of assuring him that it's fine and that my mom doesn't hate him for kissing her daughter when no one else is home with them. She's obviously fine with us if she invited him to stay tonight. He did, after all, just have dinner with us a few nights ago. Twice in one week? Well, pretty sure he has her approval.

"Maybe next time," she smiles at him before grabbing her things and walking away.

I turn to him and couldn't help, but laugh a bit, but he didn't find it as funny as I did, which is understandable.

But he did chuckle a bit about it. "It's not that funny."

"It's not," I agree, "it's just cute to see how worried you look. Like, don't worry, she's not going to kick you out. She's seen me kiss someone before. And also, she likes you so calm down."

"She won't if she keeps catching us kissing when no one's home," he points out as he picks up his jacket from the couch along with his backpack and throws it over his shoulder, "but I'm definitely willing to risk it if you are."

Duhh. I smile at him, grab him by the neck and kiss him.

And he quickly kisses back, but as soon as it starts getting to the point where it's more than a kiss, he breaks us apart. "I should really get going. I told my aunt I'd be home by five and it's 4:45. And I need to call my mom and dad before my sister takes her bath and goes to sleep."

"No, yeah," I agree, dropping my hand from behind his neck, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, you will," he leans down and gives me one last kiss before turning around and walking to the elevator.

Gah, I like him so much.


	16. Chapter 16

I honestly don't know why I was nervous. I've hung out with Troy twice this week for a long period of time and I was fine. We were fine.

But now I'm sitting across from him at dinner on our first official date and I just feel the need to impress him. HARD.

"We're sort of doing this backwards, huh?" Troy laughs as he opens the menu.

"Something like that," I agree.

We are, but I kind of don't want him to think of it like that. He doesn't completely have me yet. I don't know if I'll like him in a week, if he'll like me in a week and I'm gonna try my hardest since I've made it my new life goal to give people more of a chance, but he could very well dump me after tonight and that's so nerve wracking. What if he only likes kissing me? What if he just enjoys small talk here and there? This is a full on date. I'm going to ask him questions now since we're in this environment. I don't want him to think that he can just take it easy and chill and not try to impress me because we've already kissed.

At the same time, though, I know I like him so I'm going into this date with a completely different mind frame than I have all my other ones.

I don't know, we'll see. "What are you thinking of getting?"

"I don't know," Troy scans the menu, "have you been here? What's good, what do you like?"

"Well, you can never go wrong with the steak and mashed potatoes," I scan the menu too, even though I'm pretty sure I'm gonna go with the grilled chicken and steamed vegetables. And a side of french fries of course, "honestly, though, everything on the menu is so good, whatever you'll get, you'll love."

"I'll go with the steak," he decides and closes his menu before he grabs the complimentary water and takes a sip.

Yeah, and I'm gonna go with the grilled chicken. Cool.

I pushed my menu off to the side and also took a sip of my water. This restaurant isn't exactly fancy, but you can't come in sweats and a shirt here. I didn't want to wear a dress and heels, though. No, that's reserved for parties and parties only. So I went with some black pants, some booties and a blouse. Very casual, but a little dressy at the same time. And Troy, well he could literally wearing anything and I'm sure no one would bat an eyelid if what he was wearing was appropriate or not. But it was. Black pants and a button up. He looked soooo good.

The waitress came and asked for our drink order, but we told her we were ready so she took our order as well. Troy went with the steak and I got the grilled chicken and I asked for a side of fries as well.

She told us she'd be right back with our drinks and then it was just the two of us. Alone. Ready for conversation.

And I was still nervous.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you, how was your test in math?"

"I got an A," I smile at him, "surprisingly. I honestly thought I was gonna get a C or something. It doesn't come naturally to me like it does to you."

Troy shrugged, trying not to take the compliment, "I just like math, maybe that's why."

Excuses, excuses. He's pretty smart. Like, really smart. And you honestly wouldn't expect it because let's be honest, most people judge books by their covers and he's HOT. Anyone would think he's a typical guy, sliding by because he's too busy with partying, girls, being the head of some team. But no, he seems to be the complete opposite of all of that.

And it's nice, because half of the guys are Dalton got in because they have money. Not because they're super smart and they passed the test to get in, so.

"Why'd you parents move to Chicago?" I start a real conversation going, "you lived here until you were like seven, right?"

"Eight," he corrected me, "and my dad got a job offer over there and he couldn't really refuse it. Also, it's less busy and have more suburbs so they thought it'd be a good idea to move and raise me and the next child they're planning to have. They just needed a more quiet environment since they were newly married and it'd be good on their relationship, you know?"

Yeah, especially since they had broken up once before. "And now your sister's going to be raised in the city?"

He chuckled a bit, "yeah, she is. Unless somehow they decide to move back, but I doubt it. This is their home. This is where they met so I think they're happy about moving back. They're more secure now."

"Yeah, that's good," I smile at him, "New York isn't all that bad, especially Manhattan."

"Definitely not," he smiles back at me.

And I couldn't help but think that he was talking about me. I could be going absolutely crazy, though.

Our waitress brought out our drinks. A coke for him and a raspberry lemonade for me. So good. Now, all we were waiting on was the food and it better come fast because I'm starving. I was so nervous earlier that I barely ate and now that I'm sitting across from him and we're talking, I don't even remember why. Conversation came easy, I've had so many with him, and I'm not typically a shy person. But he just changes everything for me.

And I think it's a good thing.

* * *

"No, it's definitely your turn," I laughed as I licked my ice cream before it dripped everywhere on the sidewalk.

"It's not, but I'll go," Troy tells me as he bites into his ice cream.

We finished dinner about 30 minutes ago and walked around aimlessly instead of hailing a cab and we ended up at Emack & Bolio's, one of the best ice cream places in the Upper East Side. Seriously, it's so good and I was craving ice cream so this is perfect.

And we decided to play a little game. Just ask each other as many random questions as we could think of, each taking turns.

But we stopped to order our ice cream and lost track of whose turn it was. Well, I didn't, but he did. It was definitely his turn to ask me something.

"Okay, if you knew the world was ending tomorrow, who would you spend your last day with?" he asked, and the quickly added, "you can only pick one."

One person? Holy fuck. There are so many important people in my life. My mom, dad, brother, my best friends, my grandmas and grandpa, Lupe! My aunts and cousins. How does he expect me to pick?

But I guess that's the reason for this game. It makes you think. They're random for a reason.

Ummm. Fuck. "That's a really hard and unfair question," I preface it, "but um, probably my brother. Yeah, I'll go with my brother."

"Yeah?" Troy looked surprised.

"We're only a year apart and he's seriously been by my side since I was little," I nod as I lick some more of my ice cream, "sure, I have my best friends and if you would have given me a chance to pick two more people, it'd be my parents, but my brother and I just have this bond I can't really put into words. We're closer than most people on the outside would think. So yeah, I'll have to go with him."

"I don't know why I didn't expect that," he tells me as he continues eating his ice cream, "maybe because I haven't seen you two interact much."

No, yeah, he hasn't and that's why I'm not offended. "We literally spent the whole summer together with friends and family in The Hamptons so I'm sure he's sick of me, but we have different groups of friends. We'll all hang here and there, but yeah, we don't really hang out at school."

Mainly at home or after school we'll grab a bit to eat.

Oh, is it my turn now?

Fuck, what do I ask? Hmmm. "If money was not an object, where would you live if you could... right now?"

He thought about it, looking up for dramatic effect, I'm sure and then turned to me as we continued walking back to my place, "I honestly don't know why I'm picking this place since I've never been but I'm thinking some suburb in LA."

"You've never been to LA?"

"Nope," he chuckles a bit as he takes another bite of his ice cream, "so I don't know why I picked it, but it looks nice and relaxing and I love the beach."

"Have you at least been to California?"

He laughs some more and then shakes his head. "Nope."

Oh my goodness. Well, I guess it's not uncommon. 90% of people in the US haven't left their state, let alone their city. I'm talking from a rich person's point of view which isn't good. "You have to go if you can. It's seriously so pretty. I think I'd live there if I didn't love New York so much."

"That's what I heard, which is why I picked it, I guess. I've always wanted to go, just haven't had the chance to. When my parents went, I already had a trip planned with my friends so I wasn't able to tag along," he tells me.

Okay, so they can go. I honestly don't know if his family has money or not an it doesn't matter at all to me, but he's been paying for me so maybe?

It's his turn.

He thought about it for a few seconds and then turned to me once we came to a crosswalk, "On a scale of one to ten, how much are you enjoying our first official date together?"

Oh my gosh. I'm blushing. Okay, not really. But I didn't expect that question.

And of course I don't want to say ten because I don't want to come off to strong, but it pretty much is a ten. Seriously, it's just a simple date. But the person I'm with is making it feel like the best date. Dinner and ice cream. It's so simple and so outplayed, but if we did this every night, it'd be completely fine.

"Ten," I decided to go the honest route. I didn't care about coming off too strong. "maybe a nine since you almost did hit me with the door earlier."

"Complete accident," he laughed, finishing his ice cream, "but I'm glad you're having a good time."

"Me, too," I tell him also taking the final bite of my ice cream cone.

We wiped our hands on some napkins and then threw them away as we passed the nearest trash can. Troy then looked over at me and gave me a small smile before he intertwined our hands together.

And we walked back to my place, hand in hand, barely saying a word. Just taking in this beautiful New York night.

Together.

But we had to break apart once we got back to my place.

"Thanks again for dinner," I tell him, turning towards him and facing him head on, "and for the ice cream. It was all perfect."

"And thank you for letting me take you out on a date," he says as if it was such a hard thing for him to accomplish. Yeah, right. I'd go to a freaking brothel with him. Okay, no I'm pushing it. But honestly, I really like him, so of course I want to go out on a date with him. I wanna go on more.

"Lets do it again sometime."

He smiled at me and then leaned down and captured my lips with his in the most perfect first post date kiss.

It was cold, though, so we didn't stand outside for too long. A few kisses and then I told him goodnight and I went inside my building as he turned around and hailed himself a cab. And I couldn't stop smiling once I stepped foot inside the elevator.

Most perfect first date, ever. Eeeek.


	17. Chapter 17

"Do you want some more, sweetie? I know how much you like waffles."

I looked up at my grandma, a mouthful of waffles, and shook my head before I could give her an answer without food in my mouth. "I'm okay, grandma, thank you. I'm going to lunch with my friend in a couple hours, don't want to be too full for that."

My grandma turned around and grabbed a bowl of fruit from the kitchen counter and brought it over to the table. "At least eat some fruit."

Okay, fine. I grabbed some and put some on my plate and then passed it to my brother.

We were currently at my grandma's on the upper west side having breakfast with her. My parents are out for the day so we went to church with my grandma and now she's making us breakfast.

Well, we're almost done with it. But man, was it good.

"So how's senior year going?" she asks me as she sits down across from me, "I can't believe you're a senior."

"I know," I sometimes can't believe it either. Where did the time go? "But it's good. It's starting to get a little hard since we're over a month in so projects are coming, papers left and right, but nothing I can't handle. I have to if I want to go to Brown next year, which I'm already starting my application for."

"Oh, dear," my grandma shakes her head, "college. I can't imagine you being away, but at least you're not going out to the west coast."

I know. I thought about it. Berkeley, UCLA, but nah. Brown is my dream school and I love my family and friends. I can't just leave them. I'd get so homesick and coming home won't exactly be easy.

My brother starts coughing as something goes down the wrong pipe and he washes it down with some orange juice.

Grandma Bolton looks at him and starts patting his back, "And you mister, you better think about what college you want to go to. Your sister has had Brown on her mind since 9th grade. Do you have any idea where you want to go?"

Ugh Josh is that guy that literally is going to get to go to any school he wants because he's so smart. It comes so naturally to him and I'm so jealous.

"Nah," he shakes his head as he chows down on some waffle, "maybe Columbia, maybe Brown, I don't know yet, but I have a year."

"A year is going to come quicker than you know it."

That's for sure.

And then my brother's phone started ringing. It was his girlfriend, Molly. He excused himself from the table and got up to take her call. They've been dating since July. They were friends and in the summer when they were both in the Hamptons, they started hanging out and it became something, and I'm happy for him. Molly's such a cool girl. And nice. And Josh is happy which is all that matters.

My grandma laughs a bit as she watches Josh exit the kitchen/dining room, "He's all loved up, what about you?"

Oh no, no, no. My grandma is not going to hear about Troy before I know it's something worth telling. Until he becomes my boyfriend, if that happens.

Why, you ask? Oh because she is literally so hard on every single person we date. I brought Ryan along and she hounded him. She asked him such bizarre questions and it scared him a bit, and I think the only reason he really stuck it out was because our parents were friends. My grandma lightened up and she was nice to him afterward, but he never really liked him. She's harsh.

The guy I dated before Ryan, well, he basically stood his ground with my grandma and it backfired on him. I dumped him after that.

I honestly don't know what it is. Maybe because my mom and dad are so chill she thinks she needs to test these guys or maybe she's just genuinely looking out for me. I don't know.

What I do know is that I'm doing things differently this time. She cannot meet or know until Troy Bolton until I feel secure enough in our relationship. AKA until after he asks me to be his girlfriend.

"I'm just focusing on school right now, grandma." Well, it's not a complete lie.

"That's good," my grandma reaches over for her orange juice, "but you got to date, as well."

"Yeah, maybe."

She puts her juice down and leans forward a bit, "my friend's Godson is to die for. Anna. You love her! She won't set you up with someone who she doesn't think is worth it. Top of his class at Regis, he's off to Brown next year and he's a good guy. Plus, handsome. I think you'll really hit it off with him."

Oh fuck. She's trying to set me up. Like always. And every single time, I say no because well, I always have someone of my own.

And this time was no different. I have Troy, but she doesn't know that.

"I'm okay, grandma, but thank you."

"Gabriella," she shakes her head, "just give the guy a try. One date. Why not? If it goes bad, it goes bad and you won't see him anymore. But if it goes good, well, that'll be great and you guys can ride off into the sunset to Brown together. Wouldn't that be great?"

I couldn't help, but laugh. My grandma was 64 years old and the coolest grandma there was. She was classy, put together, but sassy when she wanted to be.

And I know she won't take no for an answer sometimes. "It's just, my friend's setting me up with someone and what if that goes well?"

"You can go on two dates," she tells me as if I didn't know myself.

I did know that, but I thought I could use it as an excuse to not go out with this guy. Regis is an all boys school and seriously, they're all arrogant jerks. I've been on a few dates with people from there and look how that ended up... not well. And I'm sure this wouldn't be any different.

But it is my grandma and if I say no, she needs a good reason. And I have one, but I don't want to share it just yet.

So I literally have no idea what to do.

"It's settled," she tells me grabbing some blueberries and plopping them in her mouth, "You'll go out with Stan Britton and that'll be that."

Stan Britton? I know of him. He's attractive, but oh my gosh, his name just sounds so pretentious. I can't do it. And I don't want to do it. "Grandma, no, I'm fine on my own. I can find someone, don't worry about it."

She shakes her head, "Do it for me, please. And for Anna, who's like a second grandma to you and has been in your life all these years. I really think you'll hit it off. He's a nice guy. Unless there's a reason you don't want to go out with him?"

Fuuuck. She's on to me. "No, no reason. I just don't really like set ups."

"You'll like this one."

No, I won't. I know I won't. Because I like the person I set myself up with. I like him a lot.

* * *

"Oh my gosh, I so needed this," Char puts her feet up as she leans back in her chair with her margarita in hand, "it's been a long day."

"You're do dramatic," I laugh as I sit next to her.

We're currently at Morgan's having a sleepover and she's arranged for all of us to get pedicures, manicures, facials, whatever we want. And this is when it's nice having really rich friends because I wouldn't dream of spending money on something like that.

I'm just getting a pedicure because my nails are painted and they're fine.

Char looks over at me and then down at my feet, "Seriously, just a pedicure, Gabriella?"

"What?" I look down at them, "I have my nails painted and they're fine. Maybe I'll do a facial, I don't know yet."

"Whatever," she closes her eyes as she leans her head back and puts her margarita down on the table beside her, "where is everyone? Morgan tells us 4 and she's not even down here."

I didn't even hear what she said because I was reading a text from Troy and it made me smile.

_I don't think I've ever wanted to get back to New York faster than I do right now. _

Ahhh and it was all because of me. It's been a few weeks of hanging out and he's currently in Chicago visiting his parents. He ditched school yesterday and he's there until tomorrow night and I miss him. It sounds silly because it's only been two days since I've seen him, but I do, I miss him.

And want to know the best part about his visit?

He pushed it a week forward since he knows our annual Halloween party is next week and he didn't want to miss it. How great is he? I'm sure it wasn't that big of a deal, but it's the though that counts, right? Right.

"What's loverboy saying?"

"Nothing," I put my phone down and wait a couple more minutes to reply.

"Oh please, I can tell by that smile on your face that he's texting you," she lifts her head a bit and grabs her margarita to take a sip, "you really like this guy, huh? What's it been, like three weeks?"

Yeah, about, but who cares. I like him. I liked him before we kissed and I like him even more after. Seriously, every time we hang out and he leaves, I sort of miss him and I've never been that girl. Like ever. I wanted to hang out with my friends more than the guy and now, well, it's even. Sort of.

I picked up my phone and sent a quick text back before turning to Char, "He's different."

"How so?" she perks her head up a little bit.

There are a ton of reasons I can list, but I want to keep it short and sweet. "Well, first of all, he doesn't try to show off. Like it's never about money with us. Carter was hot and all, and really fucking funny, but he always had to talk about money and his dad. It just got to a point where I found everything he did annoying so I'd have a reason to call it off. And it's just easy. We can literally just sit there and not say a word and it's nice. How often does that happen with someone you just started dating? I don't know, Char. I like him a lot and I don't think I'm going to stop anytime soon."

She looks happy for me, but at the same time, I know she's weary because of my history. I always, always run back to Ryan. "So, how is this guy going to prevent you from going back to Ryan in a couple of weeks?"

I'm not mad about her comment. It's happened a handful of times. Ryan just has this affect on me. "Well, for starters, I'm completely done with Ryan and not done like I've said before, but done, done. How could I be with someone who broke up with me to explore his options? Before it was just because we were fighting a lot not because we wanted to see other people. So this is different. It was hurtful."

"Yeah, I'm glad you realize that," she takes a sip of her margarita, "it's not like he would bail to hang with his friends and you two would get in a fight and you'd break it off. No, this was an eye opener."

"Exactly. And I will always have love for Ryan, I will. But I'm just done going back and forth. I want a boyfriend."

"And is that Troy?"

I smile because how could I not? Things with Troy have been going so well. And right now, I miss him. Quite a bit. "We'll see. I mean, he hasn't asked me, but it's definitely headed in that direction. We just have a lot of fun together. I don't know, we just have more in common than a lot of people would think."

But hopefully he'll ask me soon. I'm dying to be his girlfriend.


	18. Chapter 18

Finally. The day of our party.

Seriously, we look forward to this day all year. Halloween is just so much fun. Dressing up, the decorations, the vibe. Ahh, love it.

And every year, we go all out dressing up. Last year, I was poison ivy. But this year, we went with a group theme. Disney Princesses. And yeah, it might be played out, but whatever, we did it and we love how it turned out.

Charlotte is Jasmine from Aladdin because of her long black hair, just like Cassie who dressed up as Snow White. Our blondes of the group, Savannah and Morgan are dressed up as Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. And me, well, I should probably be Belle because of my long brown hair...

But I'm Ariel. I'm wearing a red wig that actually looks like I dyed my hair so I'm SO happy with it.

Who even knew Burberry made skirts that look like a mermaid tale, sort of? I snatched that thing up, even though it wasn't all the way to my feet, I didn't care. It was cute and it went perfect.

"Like, you're seriously the only person who could pull off being Ariel like this," Morgan comes up to me and looks me up and down for like the tenth time today, "The purple bedazzled bra, the short pencil skirt, but my God, you look hot!"

"So do you!" I shoot the compliment right back.

She's wearing a light blue princess dress by Vera Wang and her blonde hair is up in a tight bun and she seriously looks so much like Cinderella.

Cassie and Savannah come strolling into the VIP sections and I can't help but smile at how great our party came together this year and how amazing ALL of our costumes look. Seriously, we look like the princesses.

Savannah hands me a water bottle that I asked for when she said she was gonna go get a drink, "Troy's here."

Troy? Ahhhh. Troy.

I took a drink of my water, put it down on the table, asked the girls how I looked and then strolled out of there and went to go find him. I haven't seen him all day, I've been crazy busy making sure everything was put together and getting this costume put together that I've barely talked to him so I'm super excited to see him even though I just saw him yesterday. I can't get enough.

"You look nice," I heard a voice come at me from the side.

And I knew that voice anywhere.

I turned to face him, an annoyed look emerging on my face, "What do you want, Ryan?"

He chuckled a bit as he took a sip of his beer, "What do you mean what do I want? You invited me."

Ryan Fitzgerald. My ex boyfriend, my sort of friend, the one person who knows how to push my buttons like no other. We dated on and off for 2 years, but if you were to put together all the days we were on, it would equate to maybe a total of 11 months. It was such a dysfunctional relationship and when he broke up with me at the beginning of summer, I told him that was it. No more going back. But I've said that so many times before. But I think I meant it this time.

"Look, I don't have time for small talk, I'm..."

"I broke up with Chloe."

Oh, right. Char told me. But hearing it come from him and the fact that he's telling me, well, I don't know what to make of it. "I heard."

He gave me a small smile and then looked away for a few seconds before looking back at me, right into my eyes. "I miss you. It's been a while and I know you said you want nothing to do with me anymore, but is that really true?"

Ryan and I took our friendship to a whole new level when we kissed one night the summer before sophomore year. And ever since then, it's been the same shit every single day. We make up and break up. We're not good for each other, we know this, yet we can't seem to quit each other. We had a really good one from March to July this year only breaking up once, but when he broke up to me for some girl that I know isn't even worth it, I was done. There was no way I was going to sit around and wait for him when he could have had me, I was willing to just put all the bullshit aside and work on myself so I could be with him and we could be happy once and for all, but nope. That went out the window and so did any chance of rekindling anything with him. Ever.

"I know you miss me, too. I can tell."

He's a year older. He goes to NYU and lives in the dorms, so I haven't seen him in a while, but he has to know I'm dating Troy. He has to.

And I'm pretty sure that's exactly why he's doing this. "Ryan, now's not a good time."

"You're not denying it," he tells me, giving me a smile, "look, I'm sorry for everything. Chloe was a mistake and I just miss you. I know it hasn't always been rainbows and butterflies with us, but that's the fun of it. You know we have a good time together."

"We do," I agree.

This is what happens. We break up, we date other people, but we always, always find our way back to each other. Always.

I was dating this guy after we broke up and things were going well. He got to meet my grandmother and things went okay so that was a little promising and just as I was beginning to feel happy, Ryan swoops in, hits on me, tells me things and I'm back in his arms again causing me to break up with this guy.

Okay, it may have happened a couple of times.

Yep, a couple of times, I have stopped seeing a guy because of Ryan Fitzgerald.

And then it ended up not working out with Ryan so I felt like it was a waste, but at the same time, I feel like no one gets me like Ryan either. His parents are important business people. They're never home. I'm his security blanket. I know the ins and outs of Ryan. He knows exactly what to say to get me going, to make me want to be with him. It's our thing. The people around us are sick of it, but this is actually the longest we've gone without each other.

So, that's promising, right?

"Let's get together after the party. We can go back to my place and watch Breakfast at Tiffany's and eat a box of donuts and catch up."

Tiffany's and donuts. My two favorite things in the whole world.

And for a minute, I think I was going to say yes because that's what my mind's used to, but my eyes fell on the one person I was looking for a few minutes ago. Troy Bolton.

"I'm sorry, I, I have to go," I tell Ryan before walking past him and going over to Troy.

Troy. This is who I was going to and who I should be going to, right?

He smiled at me as soon as he saw me and looked at me up and down. And I did, too. I looked at him up and down. And I loved what I saw. Absolutely loved it. And I was so happy he decided to go with it for me.

He was Prince Eric.

And I was Ariel. Princess Ariel. "You look just like him, oh my gosh," I exclaim, a little too loudly, "you look good."

He laughed and looked down at his shoes. I know he's not too comfortable with it and would much rather be in jeans and a shirt, but the fact that he dressed up as Prince Eric for me after I jokingly suggested it means a whole lot. Seriously. It was a complete joke, but here he is... my prince.

"Well, I knew you were going to look good so I had to keep up.

"Oh please," I laugh, "it's not hard to look like him when you're already really good looking."

He shook his head and chuckled a bit, looking around a bit embarrassed, but then his eyes landed on mine and just took me in for a second. He smiled a bit and then leaned down and kissed me. Princess Ariel and Prince Eric were kissing and I didn't care who saw. Troy was mine.

And I was so happy right now.

* * *

"Holy fuck, Shane Morgan looks so hot right now, have you seen him?"

I looked over to the area where Cassie was pointing at, but I couldn't make him out. It was dark and he was looking away. "Can't see."

She sighed and took a seat next to me. "I'm, like, so down to hook up with him but he broke up with Natasha like two weeks ago so I don't know. Do you think he's even ready for that? Should I make a move or what?"

"I'm sure he doesn't care about that, what guys in this city do?" I remind her, "go for it if you want. He is hot."

"What are you doing over here by yourself?"

I was by myself in the VIP section just sipping on my water. I was tired and I was just taking a little break from it all. "No, I'm fine, I'm just taking a little breather. Why are you over here?"

She shrugs as she sways to the music blaring, "was just checking on you. One minute you're out on the dance floor with Troy and the next, you're here. Wanted to make sure nothing happened between you guys."

"We're fine," I assure her. We are.

I was seriously just taking a breather. It's crazy hectic out there and I'm so tired. This party has been going on for hours now and I just needed a little break. Troy is having a beer with the guys, everyone else is dancing so I thought it was the perfect way to just get away for a minute. Or five. Maybe ten.

Cassie grabs my cup of water and takes a small drink before getting up, "Good. Wish me luck."

"Good luck," I chuckled, but I'm pretty sure she didn't need it. Cassidy Brown is one of the most gorgeous girls I've ever laid my eyes on.

She bops out of here, leaving me to be and before I know it, Troy's walking past her and right to me.

He smiles at me while holding on to his beer, "hey, what're you doing in here?"

"Just taking a little breather."

He comes and sits by me and I'm happy he's here but if I'm being honest, I'm not only taking a breather, I'm also thinking. Thinking about Ryan. Not really in a, I want to hang out with him and be with him sort of way, but just about everything. Is he my soul mate? Is that why we keep going back to each other? Should I be hanging out with Troy? Or should I give another chance to Ryan? I know we don't ever work out, but things change. Maybe he's changed. I know I've calmed down a lot. He's in college now. And I also know that my feelings for him are so intense, which is why I'm always in this stupid situation.

Troy put his beer down on the table and then turned to me a bit, "are you sure? You seem a little... off."

Fuck. "I'm fine, I've just had a long day."

It's 12 am. I am tired. But I don't want to be lying to him. He's been nothing but good to me. Except maybe making me wait a month until he made a move, but I can't pin that on him. He didn't have feelings for me until later.

"You know you can talk to me about anything," he lets me know, "I might not have the best advice since this is still all new territory, but I can try."

"No," I laugh, "it's nothing like that. I've just had a long day, but thank you."

Seriously. That's so sweet of him.

I should probably head back out there, though. It is my party after all. So yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I get up and tell him to lets go back out there and he follows suit. He asks if I want something to drink and I tell him yeah, if he could get it because I'm gonna go use the bathroom and I'll find him when I'm done. He says yes and then heads over to the bar while I head over to the bathrooms.

And once I was done, I came out and bumped into none other than Ryan Fitzgerald. Of course. Of course I bump into him.

"Ryan."

"Gabriella," he smiles.

"Excuse me," I try to move past him.

He doesn't let m, though, "Offer stills stands if you're interested because I really, really miss you Gabs."

I take one look into his eyes and I'm suck in for a minute. For a minute, I think about everything. How he makes me feel, how good we are sometimes, how he's the only one that knows how to put up with me and I'm sucked back in. I'm sucked in and I'm literally about to tell him that it sounds like a good idea.

But then I take one look at the bar and see Troy standing there holding two drinks looking around the room for me.

And I snap right out of it. What am I even doing? Seriously, what am I doing? "Sorry, Ryan, um, I have to go. And... yeah, no, sorry, I'm not going with you."

I leave him there, stunned. It's the first time I've actually said no. I've never said no. We always end up together. But it's different now. I now have a guy that's worth it. That's different. That I really want to get to know.

I'm not giving that up for another chance with Ryan.

"Hey," I walk up to Troy and grab my drink from his hand, "thank you."

"Yeah, no problem," he smiles at me.

I carefully wrap my arms around his neck, making sure my drink is not spilling behind his back and give him a kiss. A long hard kiss. And it's not for Ryan to see, it's not to assure Troy I'm okay, no, it's for me. It's for me. And it's for Troy. It's to show him that I'm in. And that he's the only guy I want right now.

We pulled apart and I took a sip of my drink right away. Mmm. It was so good.

"What was that for?"

"Just because," I smile at him, "because I really like you."

He smiled down at me and I got butterflies in my stomach like crazy. He gives me such crazy butterflies. So that's a good sign right?


	19. Chapter 19

"Lupe, this all smells SO good," I take in a big whiff and smile at her.

Pozole is one of my favorite things in the world and Lupe has spend the majority of the day preparing it for us and I'm so excited to dig in. Except we have to wait for my mom who went on a little shopping spree with her sister for an event coming up.

Josh came strolling in with Molly, hand in hand. They said hi to everyone and then each found a place around the table.

Lupe brought out some lemons for us and placed them in the middle of the table, "Is Troy joining for dinner, should I bring extra bowl?"

I shake my head, "No, not tonight, Lupe. Thank you."

It's Thursday and he's had dinner with us the past two days and it's been the best. My dad and him get along, my mom seems to adore him, Lupe loves him and my brother and him get along as well. I couldn't ask for it to go any better, really. And I'm so happy because I'm crazy about Troy Bolton.

He was having dinner with some friends, though, tonight so that was fine. He couldn't have dinner here every night, I mean, we do need a break from each other. Right? Yeah.

Except, I don't think I'd mind. I have not gotten tired of him, bored, found something worth cutting it off with him for. And this is all so new to me.

"Lupe, just sit down already," my dad tells her as he pours himself some wine, "Diana told me she's stepping out of the car so let's get started."

Lupe nodded and listened to my dad, took off her apron and took a seat next to me at the table so we could start eating. We got everything ready, lemons were cut, cabbage was out, salsa was poured. We just needed my mom.

And a few minutes later, she came strolling in with a few shopping bags on each arm.

She put them down, went to wash her hands, put her hair up in a pony tail and sat down at the end of the table.

"I'm sorry, I got caught up. Chanel's winter collection is just to die for," she laughs as she rolls up her sleeves and takes a look around the table, "Hi, Molly, love your headband."

"Thank you," Molly replied, sweetly.

My mom's eyes landed on me and gave me a small head tilt, "No Troy today?"

I shake my head as I pour some pozole in my bowl, I couldn't even wait. "No, he was busy."

"Well, good,'" my mom says which earns a sharp head turn from me, "no, I mean, I'd love to have him here. You know I like him. I just have something to tell you and I'm not sure I'd want him to hear this." Okay, what is she talking about? She's acting weird.

"What is it?"

She sighs before moving her bowl back a little and then looks up at me, "I ran into Ryan a little while ago and he told me how he just saw you on Saturday."

Ugh, of course she ran into Ryan. "Yeah, at my party."

"Yeah," my mom nods, "anyway, he was just telling me how he misses you and he wish he could have done things different but he stills loves you and he misses seeing you every day and his life is just better with you by his side."

Ohhhhh God. I'm not sure if I can call bullshit on it, because we really do have a connection that I can't really explain to anyone, but at the same time, he broke up with me. He left me so he could have freedom at NYU even though it's fucking 10 minutes away. So annoying. So I don't know what to think.

I honestly didn't. "Yeah, um, he told me that at my party, too." Well, some of it.

"And yet, you're still hanging out with Troy."

"Yeah, I am," I shrug as I put some cabbage into my posole along with some salsa before squirting a few lemons in there.

My mom looked over at my dad and then at Lupe. They knew how our relationship worked. They all did. Every person in my life. And it would get exhausting for them, but I think they kind of understood. Or they jut didn't ever tell me anything about it because they didn't want to make me upset.

I don't know.

Lupe reached over for a few lemons and passed them to my mom and then looked at me, "Troy is nice boy."

Oh Lupe. I couldn't help, but laugh. "He is and I'm happy."

"So, that's it? No more going back to Ryan like you always do?" my dad asked me.

"That's what I was going to ask or say," my mom squirts a lemon into her posole, "because that's what you do and yeah, I thought it might actually be the end of you guys because he was off to college. It wasn't like before where you'd see each other all the time, but he's still in New York so I don't know."

What is she saying? Does she want me back with Ryan or what? "I don't get it, do you want me to get back with Ryan or something?"

She shook her head, "No, I just, I don't know. Ryan's Ryan and it's Ryan and Gabriella. You two are like a dynamic duo no one understands. I just thought you guys will get back together sooner or later."

"But then she met Troy and Troy is great, mom," my brother chimes in, "if her and Ryan are meant to be, they'll find their way back to each other."

I look over at my brother and give him a smile and mouth a "thank you" for having my back.

My mom doesn't mean harm. But I also know that Ryan's the safe choice because we just can't seem to quit each other. I think she knows just as much as me that Ryan can't quit me. I could probably quit him if I really try and here I am, trying my best, but he can't quit me so she knows he'll always be there. And yeah, okay, that's a nice feeling, but I need more. I don't want to break up with someone every other week. I don't want to fight all the time. I want stability. I want a real, true and happy relationship that at the end of the day, I'm going to sleep happy instead of yelling at him on the phone.

"Ryan and I are done," I tell everyone.

My dad smiles at me, Lupe smiles at me, and so does my mom. It's a huge step for me to say that. I've never said that before.

But Troy's definitely worth it. I like him and only him.

* * *

School sucks. Like, really sucks.

And the only thing getting me through these last five minutes is knowing that Troy and I will be hanging out in approximately two hours.

He's taking me to an early dinner and then we're going to go watch Of Mice and Men on Broadway and I could not be anymore excited for it. It's one of my favorite books and he surprised me with tickets this morning. Ahhhh, what a wonderful boyfriend.

Okay, he's not my boyfriend yet, but it's easier to just call him that.

The bell rang and I was out that door, dashing down the hallway to meet up with Savannah and Morgan who were coming to my house for a small group project we have to do for Spanish. Ugh.

"Hey, this is like the boyfriend car," Morgan says as Savannah slips in and closes the door behind her, "like, we all have boyfriends and Cassie and Char are riding together in Char's car and they don't have boyfriends. That's kind of a funny coincidence, huh?"

"I mean, it would be if I had a boyfriend," I put my purse on the ground, "who said I had a boyfriend? Because last I checked, Troy hasn't asked me."

"No way," Morgan turns to me, "you guys aren't official? I just assumed because well, you've been spending so much time together and at the party, he came as Prince Eric. I didn't know he formally had to ask you."

He doesn't. No, he does. Ugh, I don't know. "Well, I don't want to assume so until he does..."

Savannah coughed and then we turned to her. She had something to say. "Why don't you ask him about it? It's been close to a month now."

"I don't know, guys, I don't want to be that girl."

"What girl?" Morgan asks, "the girl that wants to know where she stands with someone? Who wants to be secure so she could take the next step and let her heart fall in love?"

Savannah and I looked at each other and let out a laugh at the same time.

Morgan even laughed at herself. "Okay, that was cheesy, but no, for real, Gabriella. Don't be afraid. This is the first guy who has not made you go back to Ryan. That has got to count for something. And you know you want more. You want that title, I know you do."

"No, yeah, you're right."

She is right. I want to be his girlfriend more than anything.

I know I want that. I just don't know if he wants that. Yes, he makes plans for us and is sweet and kind and makes me laugh, but he hasn't asked me yet. And I don't want to assume even though I feel like he wants to keep this going. I feel that. But I just want more of a reassurance from him.

But there's no way I'm going to bring it up. "I think I just have to let it play out. See where it goes."

"He's going to ask you sooner or later," Savannah assures me, "I know he will."

"I feel like he's still into me so that's a good thing,"I shrug, "but yeah, I wish he would ask me so I feel more secure in this."

"Or what if he just assumes you guys are boyfriend and girlfriend?" Morgan points out, "I mean, Patrick thought he didn't have to ask me. He thought it was implied that our relationship had gone the next step without us talking about it. Maybe that's happening with you guys, so you have to ask."

Fuck. All good advice. But I don't know.

I didn't have time to feel down about it, though. "Maybe I'll bring it up tonight... if I don't chicken out last minute."

To be honest, I kind of feel like his girlfriend. We've started this new thing where we talk on the phone at night for about 30 minutes and we just talk about our day, or anything we feel like and it's honestly the best. I feel like I can talk to him about anything and everything and I've never had that before.

* * *

"So what'd you think of it?"

I intertwined our fingers as we walked out of this coffee shop to walk back to my place, "Interesting cast, but I loved it. I thought it was great."

Of Mice and Men is one of my favorite books so the fact that he got me tickets to see the Broadway play on it's opening night is everything. Seriously. It was so sweet and yeah, I would have gone sometime during its run, but I'm glad he got me tickets. It showed me he really cares. He wants to make me happy. He wants to do things I like, you know? Gah, he's the sweetest guy.

"Good," he grabs my hand a little tighter as we cross the street, "I liked it, too. I'd go again if you want to."

UMM I want to. And the fact that he's offering. Ugh. He's trying to kill me with his sweetness, I'm sure of it. "Yeah, I wanna go again."

He looks over at me and smiles and then for the rest of the way, we walk in silence. It's about a block and we're just taking in this night. It's cold outside, but strangely, I feel warm. Maybe because I'm holding onto his arm. And I don't really want this night to end. I don't want to say goodnight to him just yet.

So when we get to my place, I invite him up and ask if he wants to watch a movie or something. It's a bit late, but I don't know. It's Friday. Does he really have to get home right away? No, right?

"What are you in the mood for?" I ask, looking through all my DVDs, "or we could watch something on Apple TV. There are a ton of movies on there."

"I'm down for whatever," he gets himself comfortable on my bed, "are you sure?"

I turn around, look at him for a moment and nod before pushing some hair behind my ear. I know what he means. Am I sure he should be here when my parents are on a business trip and Lupe or my grandma isn't staying with us. My brother's out, I don't know where he is, but when he comes back and sees him here, he won't care. My parents trust me. We can stay alone together. There's security 24/7 at this place. It's not about that. We're the ones that don't really care to stay by ourselves, but this weekend, we just did. And I want to keep hanging out with Troy. I don't want this night to be over just yet.

So why not? Why not cuddle and watch a movie? It's harmless.

While he lies there, I sneak off to my closet and change out of my clothes. There's nothing more I love than coming home from a party or some event and changing into some sweats and a tee shirt. Maybe cheesecake. I love cheesecake. But seriously, it's so relaxing.

I grab a pair of Chanel sweats that are the most comfortable things on this planet and slipped them on along with a plain black tee shirt.

And then I raced across my room and went to my bathroom so I could take off my makeup. I didn't have a lot on, but knowing me, I'll get way too lazy later on, especially after watching a movie, to take it off so I should do it right now. Troy's seen me without makeup. Twice. And it's not like I have a lot to begin with but it definitely livens me up. And right now, I don't think I care. I don't need makeup to get through my day, I really don't.

So I take it off, brush my teeth while I'm in there and use the restroom before going back out.

And all he was doing was looking up at my ceiling.

Which made me smile. He could have been on his phone. He could be texting someone. Checking his instagram or twitter or whatever else. But no. He never does that around me, I've noticed. He'll take it out to send a text here and there but he doesn't constantly have it out and that makes me so happy.

"Did you decide on a movie?" I ask him which immediately makes him look over.

"No," he says, giving me sort of a blank stare which kind of threw me off, "um, I was going to let you pick one."

Oh. Okay. I walked over to the DVDs but I couldn't find a movie I wanted to watch. I didn't know what I was in the mood for. I could seriously just lay there and talk to him. But watching a movie would be a better excuse to have him laying there in bed with me, you know? I gave up looking at the DVDs and went over to my bed, hopping in and grabbed the remote from my nightstand so I could search for something on the TV. There has to be a good one on there.

I searched through all of them and there were a couple, but again, I didn't know if I actually wanted to watch one now that I think about it.

"I honestly don't have a clue so please don't ask me," Troy laughs as he sits up a little bit.

"Ugh, me neither, I wanted to watch one, but now I don't since I seriously don't know which one to pick," I scroll down once more to see if I missed any but no, I didn't. There's nothing that's catching my eye at all. "Well, I guess I made you come up here for no reason then."

"I wouldn't say that's true," he smiles at me and leans over and gives me a quick peck, "I'm gonna use the bathroom real quick. Also, mind if I get a water?"

Oh man. I'm a bad host. "No, yeah, yeah, go ahead."

He laughed and made his way out of my room and in getting off my bed, he dropped a pillow and didn't even notice it so I leaned over and picked it up, but it wasn't the only thing he dropped.

Nope. He dropped his phone and it didn't crack or anything. Lucky him.

I picked it up and was gonna just put it on the nightstand, but I realized he had a text message. From some girl named Angela.

He had his text messages set up to where it pops up on your screen and you could see the text, which I guess is good when you're dating a girl because it seems like you're not hiding anything. But I'm sure he wouldn't have wanted me to see this text. At all. And I feel awful about reading it, to be honest.

**I just wish things were different and you didn't move. I know things happen for a reason, but that doesn't mean I don't miss you like crazy. **

Fuuuuck. I wish I didn't read this at all.

I don't know who this Angela girl is, but I'm assuming it's his ex girlfriend. It sounds like an ex girlfriend.

And I honestly don't know what they're talking about. I'm not gonna snoop. And I'm not gonna read any more texts. I just don't understand how it seems like they're having a conversation. A serious conversation. This couldn't be the start of a conversation. When did he find time to text her tonight? I never saw his phone out. I never see his phone out, like I said, so it's weird.

Ohhh. Probably when I ran into my friend at the coffee shop we went to and I talked to her for a little bit. And also, maybe when I was in my closet changing. Just because he didn't have his phone when I came out of the bathroom a couple minutes after that didn't mean he didn't send a quick text before. Ugh.

Now I'm going crazy thinking about it. So crazy.

I immediately put his phone on the ground along with the pillow to make it seem like he dropped it and I didn't pick it up. The text was still there on the front of his screen so he won't suspect anything, I don't think. Unless I start acting weird.

Which I'm probably going to do if I'm being honest, but what am I supposed to think right now? Does he miss her, too? Who is she exactly?

But then he came back, which snapped me out of my thoughts. "You didn't want one, right?"

I shake my head and glance over at my nightstand on my side of the bed and realized I have one there from earlier today, "no, I have one. Thanks."

He then realized he had dropped his phone and the pillow on the ground so he picked it up. He tossed the pillow on the bed and then just stood there looking at his phone, very intensely. I didn't see him type anything, he was just staring down at it. And it sucks that I know exactly what he's reading. Ugh. I didn't want to know. I wish I didn't. But at the same time, it makes me think about his past. What he left behind in Chicago and maybe that's why he's not making me his girlfriend or whatever.

"Did you decide on a movie?" he shoves his phone in his pocket and takes a seat on the bed next to me.

"No," I shake my head putting the control down, "I'm not really in the mood anymore."

"Oh," is all he says.

I look away for a second and close my eyes, take a silent deep breath and then turn to him. But he's already looking at me. His blue eyes looking into mine and it just makes me forget everything. It makes me forget that I'm not technically his girlfriend, that his girl who is probably an ex is texting him...

All I think about is the way he's looking at me. That intense look in his eyes.

And then he reaches for my face, gently cups it with his right hand and kisses me. Hard. With so much passion.

One, long, hard, sweet kiss.

Then, he smiled and went back to laying down, staring at the ceiling.

And in this moment, that kiss was everything. I didn't care about that text anymore or the fact that I wasn't his official girlfriend. That kiss in that moment in time meant that he didn't care about the text message. That he was proving it to himself that what we have is great. Proving to me that he's crazy about me.

I'm crazy about him, too, and that's more than enough right now. More than enough.


	20. Chapter 20

"Are you okay? You seem a little... down."

Ugh, my best friends always know when something's wrong. Always. It's good and bad. "Boy problems," I tell Cassie.

Cassie gets off her chair and comes over to her bed and jumps on it, looking me right in the eyes, "What's wrong? I thought you were really happy?"

I was. I am. I don't know. "The last few days have been weird. Like, we hang out and it's fine and stuff but I just want more, you know? And yeah, I have been happy with him but I need more, Cass, I want to be his girlfriend and it just seems like he's fine with just hanging out and stuff. And on top of that, he ditched school for two days and went to Chicago. Like out of the blue. Why?"

"You think? You don't think he wants more out of it, too?"

"I don't know, it's been a month and the past week he's been, not distant, but his head just doesn't really seem in it, you know what I mean? It's weird."

Cassie nods and then gets off her bed and goes and grabs her laptop, "You need a pick me up. Let's do some online shopping!"

Oh man, online shopping will be the death of me. It's one of my favorite things to do. But that's not really what I need right now. "No, Cass," I laugh, "Maybe he's over it? That could be it."

"Shut the fuck up," she shuts her laptop, "people don't get over Gabriella Montez. Gabriella Montez gets over people. There's no way he's over you. You've done nothing wrong. You're not needy, you give him his space, you're a damn good kisser according to Scott Michaels. And you're absolutely gorgeous."

I laughed. Cassie always knows how to make me laugh. "He's not from here. He's from another world, basically, and maybe he's just sick of it. Or maybe there's something else he wants. Or someone else. I don't know."

Cassie rolled her eyes, "Okay, so he didn't want to go to two events with you, big deal. You didn't want to be there, either, so what? And shut up."

"No, it's just, yeah, I don't know, I would have liked him to be there with me."

"But he doesn't have any connections or reason to be there," she points out, "if you didn't, you wouldn't be there, either. You're more of a party girl, not one of those sit down dinner girls. He would have been bored. You were bored. Who even cares."

"Me!" I tell her, "this is my life, whether he likes it or not. Whether I like it or not. It's who I am and I don't know, maybe he's just so tired of keeping up."

Cassie shakes her head, "you're not forcing him to these parties. He's gone on his own. His cousin is Stacy Smith!"

Yeah, true, but I don't know. Ugh.

It just all feels a little different now. "I feel like he's not really trying anymore and that makes me a little sad, like what did I even do?"

"Nothing!" she tries to tell me, "maybe he just feels comfortable around you now. Maybe it's to that point where he thinks he has you and doesn't need to really work for you, anymore, you know? I don't know."

But still. He doesn't technically have me. He has me, but he doesn't have me committed. I'm not technically committed to him until he asks me.

And who knows if he even is.

"My grandma wants me to go on a date with her friends grandson," I change the subject completely, "Stan Britton, you know that Lacrosse player from Regis? She thinks we'll really hit it off and I honestly don't know how to get out of it."

"Stan Britton?" Cassie asks, "oh my gosh, so many girls are after him. What did you tell your grandma?"

"That I didn't want to date and I'd rather find a guy on my own, which I did, but you know how she is. And her friend got involved and it's like they're double teaming me, and ugh. I want to keep this to myself as long as I possibly can, but she's getting curious. I feel like she knows."

Cassie laughed as she grabbed one of her pillows and put it on her lap, "Well, if it helps, I hear he is very, very boring so just go out with him to please you grandma. I can already see it not working out at all. So you have nothing to really worry about."

I shake my head, it's not that at all. "I don't want to go on a date with him when I have Troy. No, feels weird. I can't."

"Then don't go out with him. Just tell your grandma."

"But then she'll want to meet him, Cassie! And I'm not bringing around some guy who isn't even my boyfriend. That didn't work out too great last time, so no way am I ever doing that again." Ugh. Stupid Troy Bolton. He's making me mad.

"I still think he's crazy about you, you're just being paranoid. He went to Chicago because he misses his family. That's it. He likes you."

Ugh, I hope she's right. I like him so much.

* * *

"I mean, high school is definitely easier, but I'm enjoying college. A lot more freedom."

Freedom. That's all I heard and that's what triggers my mind to go back to that place I was four months ago. Freedom. That's exactly why we called it off. Exactly why he broke up with me.

He wanted freedom in college and he wanted to hook up with some girl he met. So why the fuck am I here right now?

Ryan reached for my hand when he realized I wasn't saying anything back, "hey, are you okay?"

I'm not sure I was, though. When I ran into him and he told me again how much he missed me, I was in a really vulnerable place. Troy was acting weird and not really talking to me, being distant and I don't know. Ryan was being Ryan, very persuasive, and I just gave in. I couldn't believe I actually gave in. I did such a good job not giving in at the party, but here I am...

"I'm fine," I tell him, leaving my hand under his longer than I should have, "I just don't really know why I came today, to be honest."

"You don't know why you came?"

"Yes," I take my hand away and fold them across my chess, "you and I are over Ryan. You just reminded me why. You wanted freedom in college. You wanted to date that girl. You dated that model. I don't know why I'm here."

He looked taken aback. I know he knew I was hanging with Troy, but I don't think he knew how serious it was. How much I liked him so maybe he thought he had a serious chance. And yes, I gave him that impression and yes, it always worked before. But Troy's different. He's not like those other guys. And I'm not sure leaving him for Ryan Fitzpatrick will do me any good whatsoever. So what the fuck am I doing here?!

Ryan grabbed his coke and took a sip and looked around the restaurant for a moment before his eyes landed back on me. His beautiful, big green eyes. "But you're it, Gabriella. I love you. Always have and probably always will."

My heart fluttered. How could it not when you hear a guy you care for tell you he loves you? It just does. It feels good.

Everything's different now, though.

And I'm not sure I can just go back to him like before.

I've told everyone I'm not going back to Ryan. I really thought that, I do think that, but with Troy being so distant and everything, I don't know. It got me thinking. What if Ryan's the only guy who will truly ever want me... forever? I know I can fall back on him. I know he'll always be there for me. It makes me keep going back. But I'm not even one hundred percent sure I want to be here right now. So many ups and downs. I don't know if it's worth it anymore.

"But until when, Ry?" I shake my head, "until you see a hot girl in one of your classes and we call it off? Or until I find something annoying and lash out and then it's back to where it started? I can't keep doing this. I want something serious. Something secure."

"We're different," he argues, "we've grown. I know what I want and it's you. It's always been you and I'm sorry for ever doubting that."

The thing about Ryan Fitzpatrick is I don't know if I genuinely think he's right for me. Yes, I love him, and there's an insane attraction there, but there's gotta be more. And I don't know what it is, but that's always been missing.

I honestly think I just kept going back because he gets it. He gets my life. He lives my life, basically. We're in the same boat. I know he's not using me. And that was always something huge for me. These other guys wanted in, in the social scene and I was their way in. Not with Ryan, though. And maybe I just took that way too seriously and mistook it for him being right for me, but I'm not sure he is. We don't share many common interests, just this intense vibe that it's hard to describe. We're just both living life the same way and it was easy to just fall back on him. Very easy.

But I don't want to do that anymore. I want to be in a relationship with someone who is truly great to me. Who makes me feel loved. Who respects me.

And I'm not sure that person is the one that's sitting across from me at the table right now.

"Ryan, I love you," I tell him, "and I'll always care for me, but we're each others security blankets. We've tried and we've tried and we've tried. I honestly don't think we can try any longer and you know what? I'm not sure I want to. I'm happy right now. Really happy, actually."

"With that guy who here moved from Chicago?"

I nod my head, "his name's Troy. And yeah, I've been getting to know him."

He didn't look mad, he just looked bummed. "I don't want to stop fighting for you, but if this guy is the guy that makes you not come back then he must be special because we always come back to each other. Always."

We did and his words meant a lot to me. "I think he is special and this was a mistake coming here... at the beginning. I came in with the idea of maybe, you know, patching things up. But it wasn't a mistake because I realize that as much as I care for you, I can't be in a relationship with you. It's not healthy and this guy... this guy has me right now. Regardless. Who knows what the future holds, but I really like him and I know you'll find someone great as well."

Ryan smiled and nodded, "I'm sorry. I just, I didn't know how serious it is and you know I'll never do anything to intentionally hurt you or cause anything."

"I know," I really do know that. Not only was he my boyfriend on and off, but my friend. And he'll always be my friend. "I'm sorry, too. I just don't think it's right for us. I think we both owe it to ourselves to see what's out there. And I'm sorry I was so mad at you."

"It's okay, I deserved it. College doesn't mean you need to break up with your girlfriend," he gives me a small smile, "I love you, Gabs."

"And I love you, Ry. I want the best for you... for us."

I want the best for me. And right now, no matter how he's acting, I want Troy.

* * *

"Who buzzed you in?"

"Oh, I was going to call you, but I ran into Matt downstairs and he punched in the code for me, what's the big deal?" I asked Troy who looks like he was annoyed I was here for some reason.

He shook his head and turned around and walked towards the kitchen.

I mean, there was no way he knew about Ryan. So he couldn't be upset about that, right? Who would have told him? No one knows I went.

Let's see. I distinctly remember looking around the place and no one I knew was there. It was the upper west side, people from the east don't usually go there. My friends wouldn't tell him and the only ones that knew were Cassie and Morgan and they both were super against it. After leaving brunch, I went over to Morgan's and we went to Barney's so she could find something to wear for a party I headed home, texted Troy to see if he wanted to maybe do something, but he didn't reply so and hour later, here I am, standing in the kitchen with him.

"Are you okay?" I asked, "you seem... off."

"Oh I do?" he turns around to face me, "I wonder why that is, Gabriella."

He's gotta know, but how? How does he know? "I don't know, why don't you just tell me instead of making me uncomfortable?"

Troy let out a mocking laugh and turned around to grab a new jar of mayonnaise from the pantry, "Oh I'M making you uncomfortable? I'm pretty sure I was the uncomfortable one when I walked into Fred's and saw you holding your ex boyfriend's hand."

Fuuuuuck. Yep. He knows.

And I'm so mortified. And feel so bad about it. "No, Troy, it's honestly not what it looks like..."

"I don't care, Gabriella," he pretty much throws the cap from the mayonnaise down on the counter, "Ryan is a hell of lot better than me, I get it. I'm not from this world, he is. Go and have fun with him."

"No, it's not like that at all," I move towards him, "please just let me explain."

"Explain what?" he asks, "you know what, I thought you were different than all these typical New York girls, all these girls you see in the movies and TV shows, but you're not. You're exactly like that and you care about the glitz and the glam and who you're seen with. I get it."

Ouch. That really hurts. Because for the past month, I really thought I was showing him exactly who I was. Who my friends see. Who my parents see.

But I guess not?

He chuckles a bit to himself before he continues, "and I'm such an idiot for believing you were different. Maybe you just like the idea of me but at the end of the day, it makes since that you'd get back with him. His dad is the freaking mayor. You guys really belong together."

I'm mad, I'm sad, I'm pissed at myself. I'm feeling so many different emotions right now. "No, that's not me. You were getting to know the real me..."

"Was I? I'm not so sure about that."

"Yes!" I basically scream, "you were! I do enjoy parties and I do enjoy going out and having a good time, but at the end of the day, my family and my friends are who I care about the most. I'd give all of this up if it meant just choosing happiness!"

He shook his head and went over to the fridge. I can't believe he was making himself a sandwich in the middle of all of this. He slabbed some turkey on both sides of the bread along with a slice of cheese and then looked up at me.

"I saw you guys holding hands, there's no way out of it. You're either playing him, me, or both of us and I want nothing to do with it."

"How can I fucking be playing you when we're not even together?!" I lose it. I'm mad. And I'm just letting everything out now. "Huh, tell me that?"

Troy looked up at me, didn't blink for a good 20 seconds and then just looked away.

What the fuck.

How is he going to do that. "We're not even together, you haven't asked me to be your girlfriend so technically I'm not doing anything wrong here! So give me a fucking break and stop making me out to look like such an evil person."

"Maybe it's a good thing then because now I know how it really is and it's better I find out now than down the road."

"What the fuck does that mean?" I feel the tears forming, "I'm trying here, Troy! I'm crazy about you. All you had to do was ask me to be your girlfriend and if you don't feel the same way then just fucking tell me instead of distancing yourself from me. You've barely been wanting to hang out with me. Can I yell at you for that. Why? Why have you been avoiding me? I'm not an idiot!"

"Because!" he exclaimed, but then stops himself, "no, I just... still, it doesn't give you a reason to go out with him. I thought we had something good."

Oh my gosh. Why am I even trying?

That's all he had to say about that? Well, then... "You've been short, distant, it seems like you never want to hang out with me anymore, where did it all go wrong? Did I do something to make you upset or what? I'm not going to wait around forever, wondering if we'll ever officially be together. Is it because of your ex? Because I know you've been talking to her!"

He didn't say much. He just looked down at his sandwich and stayed quiet. "Do not turn this back on me. I've done nothing wrong."

"You've been fucking ignoring me! Don't tell me you've done nothing wrong. And I'm sure she's got something to do with it. I've seen the texts between you two!" Okay, I've seen one text and it was just from her, but whatever. I'm mad.

But then he looked back up at me. Brown meets blue. And gave me a small head shake, "No."

"What?" What does that even mean? UGH.

"It felt like we were together and I'm sorry you didn't have much reassurance, but that doesn't take away from you going out with some guy. How would you like it if the tables were turned?"

I wouldn't like it at all. And I get what he's saying, but still. Texting is just as bad, right?

He sighed and then continued, "Go be with someone who's like you. I'm not the guy you want. I don't always want to go to those parties. I don't want to dress up. I don't care about who's who. And I thought you were different, but you're not. So why don't you just leave now..."

A single tear fell and I just couldn't be there anymore. He's attacking me character and that hurts more than anything. I'm not even gonna argue about those texts anymore. He's mad and I don't think I can change his mind. I messed up, I know that, but he's not exactly innocent here, either.

As much as I like him, I have to walk away right now because I don't even want to be here.

Not because he doesn't want me here, but because I don't want to be there. He's hurting me. Maybe more than I hurt him. And that sucks.

It really sucks.

"Whatever," I held tears back, "I'm out of here."

He doesn't care for me like he made it out to be. If he did, he wouldn't hit where he hurt. He'd forgive me and tell me that he's crazy about me, too. But he didn't. He let me walk out of there after basically begging him. Maybe he's not who I thought he was. He doesn't care for me. Or he wouldn't have treated me like this. And sure, he can argue that I don't care for him because of what I did. But the difference is that I apologized and I wanted to fight for us.

But he doesn't want to fight for me.

Troy Bolton didn't care for me like I cared for him. And that hurts.


	21. Chapter 21

"Mom, I'm not in the mood to talk right now," I yell through my closed door and bring my covers up a bit.

But then the door opened and I realized it wasn't my mom. It was Savannah. And she was carrying a little white box and I knew exactly what she was bringing me. God bless her soul. I love my friends so much. So much.

She took off her coat and tossed it on my chair and immediately came over and sat on my bed, "I hate seeing you like this, Gabs. I haven't seen you this torn up since... well, never. I've never seen you like this. I don't think Ryan had this kind of affect on you which is weird considering how long you two dated for."

"Don't remind me," I sit up, "I'm so pathetic. This guy wasn't my boyfriend, yet here I am, in bed crying over him. Who does that?"

"You're not pathetic," she tells me, kicking off her shoes and bringing her feet up, "you're just infatuated which is perfectly normal at our age. You're fine."

I sigh and sit up a bit and pull my hair back into a bun and wipe my eyes. I can't believe how depressed I'm being. The first time I ever broke up with Ryan before knowing how it would be, I turned my back on him, went to get sushi with my friends and laughed all night long. I thought it was the end of Ryan and Gabriella right there and that's the way I reacted. But that turned into two years.

And this guy who I've only known a couple months has me laying in bed, sulking. Sulking. Eating ice cream and watching romantic comedies. Like they do in movies. This is my life. And it's only been THREE FUCKING DAYS. Three days. Like, how pathetic am I?

Savannah gave me the box and opened it up, "it's your favorite. Thought it'd cheer you up. I also came to tell you that you're not completely alone in this."

"What are you talking about?" I take it from her and smell the red velvet goodness coming from within. Gah, I love cheesecake so much.

"Well, I'm sure Troy's putting on a different act around you, like in class, but Will told me he's not acting like usual," she tells me as she hands me a fork, "so he's hurting, too. And I think you should just talk to him. Sort this out. I know yo know he's worth it and I know you're not over it. I know you like him a lot."

Yeah, but I tried. I tried talking to him. And that ended up being stupid.

So should I really put myself back out there? "I don't know, S, he made it pretty clear he wanted nothing to do with me."

"He's had a few days to think it all over," she argues, "I know that if I were him, I'd be upset, too. The girl who has a reputation of always going back to her ex boyfriend once again proved that it might happen. It's not easy. And I don't blame him for being upset. But if what you've told me is true, then I can't imagine him not laying in bed thinking about what an idiot he is for not fighting for you."

"I'm not gonna beg him to talk to me or to even give me a second chance, Sav. I'm not. And I'll be okay. It just hurt more than I thought. It sounds SO crazy to even say out loud, but I didn't see an end to this."

Savannah's eyes almost bulged out of her sockets and I couldn't help, but laugh. "What? You wanted to marry this guy? Are you for real?"

I shake my head and roll my eyes, "No, are you crazy? I'm barely 18 years old. I just, I didn't think about my future with him or think about how it'd be like if he wasn't in my life. I was just very present with him unlike every other relationship. I just focused on what was happening at the time and yeah."

"Oh okay, yeah, I get it. I think I'm the same way with Will so I feel for you," she gives me a frown, "just try talking to him. It's been a couple of days..."

"He doesn't want to talk to me."

Troy made that perfectly clear to me yesterday afternoon.

_The bell rang and I was so excited because school has been dreadful these past two days. DREADFUL. _

_Do you know how hard it is to sit behind the guy you like, the guy you've been falling for these past couple months? Who now won't pay you any attention? He won't even turn around to pass some papers to me. That's how dramatic is it. And I get it, I do, but if he likes me as much as I like him, I think we owe it to ourselves to talk. Either sort this whole thing out or come to an understanding that this is over. And as hard as that'll be, at least I'll know that's what he wants. Because right now, yes, I know he's angry and he kicked me out, but he left it so... out there. Does he just need a couple of days or what?_

_I waited by the gates leading out to the front from the quad because I know that's where he'll be coming from and the minute he saw me, his face went blank. Which hurt. But I expected it. I didn't expect him to be smiling or anything. _

_"Hey, can I talk to you?" I hold on to my books, as if I'm using them for protection or something. _

_"I don't have time," is all he says before zooming right past me. _

_It's bullshit. I know it is but obviously I'm in no position to call him out on it. I get that. But ugh, it's still so annoying. "Troy, please, I'm so sorry. I just want to talk to you and let everything out. I need to know if you'll ever..." _

_He turned around, his blue eyes looking icy, "if I'll what? Forgive you? Take you back or some bullshit like that? You lied to me. I don't like liars."_

_Technically, I didn't lie. I didn't tell him I was in one place and then ended up with Ryan. I just didn't tell him anything about it. _

_And also, what he said just made my stomach turn. Of course I want him to take me back, but he obviously isn't into that right now. Or maybe ever again. And that makes me so incredibly sad because I'm crazy about him. I'm crazy about him in such a short period of time. I mean, HOW CRAZY. How is this even possible? It's just a testament to how amazing he is. I'm so stupid. I know I am. But I just want to make everything right... I have to. _

_"Please. I'm sorry. I know you told me to leave your house that day and I don't know if that meant you never wanted to see me again or what, but I have to talk to you. I have to explain things..." _

_"Explain what?" he says with a laugh, "I walked in and saw you holding hands with your ex boyfriend. What the fuck is there to explain?" _

_Okay. Um. "I'm not gonna deny that, but it really isn't what it looks like." _

_He threw his head back in pretend laughter, "Of course it's not. No one ever says that. I don't want to talk to you, Gabriella. I just, I need..." it seems like he's about to say he needs time, but he stops, "I just don't want to talk. I'm really not in the mood." _

_By nature, I'm not a begger. This was really big for me- approaching a guy first and wanting to talk things out. So I was done. I'm not gonna keep trying. _

_Troy turned around and left, leaving me there with tears forming in my eyes. _

_Again, I could not believe this guy had this much of an affect on me. And it honestly freaks me out. I want to work out what we had so bad even though it's only been a month yet I don't want a two year relationship with Ryan to be worked out? That's so freaking crazy to me. _

_Troy Bolton is something else and I cannot believe what an idiot I was at blowing it. _

_I hate myself. _

"Gabriella!" Savannah snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry," I shake my head a bit, trying to forget that afternoon. It was only yesterday, but ugh. I want it out of my mind forever. It wasn't only embarrassing, it was hurtful. The fact that he can't just talk it out like an adult is so annoying, too. Like, at least I'm trying here. "what were you saying?"

She smiled at me, put this cheesecake on my nightstand and then turned back to face me and I knew she was going to give me a little speech of hope because that's just who Savannah Morgan is.

And yep. I was right. "honestly, he is an idiot and you don't deserve him if he doesn't want to work this out because you're trying. And besides your lack of judgement for a bit, you're the best there is. You really are. No guy has ever said, well, Gabriella's missing something, let me break up with her. No. That's why none of them ever did... except for Ryan, but he probably thought you'd go running back. You're a catch, Brie. Any guy would be lucky to have you. And if he doesn't realize it, then let him go. It's easier said than done, I know, but you can't keep fighting for him if it's not reciprocated. So talk to him and if he's still not budging, let it go. There are so many other guys who want to date you. You'll be fine, I promise."

But what do I feel like I won't be fine unless he's in my life? Why?

Ugh, this is so hard.

* * *

"Hello, anyone home?"

I perked my head up and saw my grandma standing in our foyer. "Grandma."

She turned to me and gave me a small smile. "Gabriella, darling, what are you doing here by yourself?"

Uhhh. Why is she here? "Um, I don't really feel good so I didn't feel like going with them, what are you doing here if you knew we were all gonna be out?" That's the better question, isn't it?

She laughed and put her purse down on the table before coming over to the living room, "Oh, I knew you were here."

"Okay?" I'm confused, "what are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"The better question is, why aren't you with your family? It's your favorite event of the year!"

"I'm just not really in a party mood, grandma," I tell her as I lay my head back down on my comfortable pillow. "And besides, I go to to many events anyway, don't you think? Maybe I should cut back a little. Stay home some more. Read, write, I don't know."

My grandma looks at me as if I've gone crazy. "Okay, now I know you're not dying to go to these events, but they're apart of you. What's wrong?"

Ugh. It's been a week since that fight with Troy. Exactly a week and we've avoided each other like crazy. My friends are sad for me, I'm sad for me and my parents are sad for me. He's literally such a good catch and I blew it. But at the same time, he didn't fight for me and it just seemed like he was over it and he used what I did as a way out, I think. I truly think that.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

"Oh please," she tells me, taking a seat next to me, "I've known you for 18 years."

I sit up a bit and look at her before taking a deep breath. I had to tell her. "It's so pathetic, but it's over a boy and he pretty much dumped me and it sucks because I really liked him and it's all just a mess."

She puts some of my hair behind my ear before putting her hand on my face and giving me a smile. "Troy?"

What? How does she know...? Oh, right. "Did my mom tell you? I'm sorry I didn't tell you grandma, but even you know how you could be and..."

"No," she interrupts, "your mom didn't tell me. No one in your family told me."

"Then how do you know?"

She gives me a small smile before getting up and going over to her purse. She pulls something out and then comes back and sits where she was. She hands me a white envelope that says her name on it. "Here, open it."

What is this? And why is she giving it to me? "Grandma, why are you giving this to me?"

"Just open it."

So I do. And I'm blown away. It's an invitation to a birthday party. My birthday party. My surprise birthday party in two weeks at the Hudson Hotel.

And I know exactly who's throwing it. "Troy gave this to you, he went to your house and gave it to you?"

She smiled at me and gave me a small nod.

I looked back down at the invitation. I could not believe it. Hudson Hotel. A surprise party for me. For my 18th birthday. Thrown by some guy who I thought didn't see this going anywhere. But that wasn't the case at all... obviously. He was planning me a surprise party. For a girl who he's only been dating for, like, a month. Who does that? Who honestly does that? This is absolutely insane and the sweetest thing any guy has ever done for me.

Honestly. No guy has ever done something this nice for me.

"I didn't know you were meeting up with Ryan" my grandma tells me which causes me to look up, "you were literally on a brunch date with him as Troy was dropping off my invitation."

That explains why he was at Fred's. On the Upper West Side. Where my grandma lives.

She continued, "You weren't supposed to know about this party and the only reason I'm telling you is because your mom told me you guys broke off whatever it was you guys had and you're a wreck and I know how stubborn you are. You won't go chasing him. But you have to. He's worth is. And he's a wonderful young man. I approve, wholeheartedly."

This is absolutely crazy. Troy went to my grandma's to give him an invitation to a surprise party he's throwing me?

"You like him?"

"I like him," she tells me, "he sat down and talked to me for thirty minutes."

"Are you mad I didn't tell you about him?"

My grandma laughed and shrugged it off, "I know I can be hard on your guys but it's because I want the absolute best from my granddaughter. I mean, he pulled your grandfather away from the TV for thirty minutes and joined the conversation. He's a keeper."

I closed my eyes for a second and smiled. And then got sad because of our fight. What if he wants nothing to do with me anymore? "I wanna fight for him, but honestly, I think I hurt him pretty badly with the Ryan thing. And I tried talking to him, but he wasn't having it at all, grandma."

My grandma put her hand on my leg and squeezed it a little, "trust me. Grandma's know everything and that boy is crazy about you. You can fix this."

"Wish me luck," I tell her.

I give her a hug, thank her, and then get up and go to my room to change. I wasn't going to sit here any longer.

Nope. I was gonna go fight for him... again.


	22. Chapter 22

I don't know what to say. I also don't even know if he'll forgive me.

Honestly, if you really and truly look at this situation, it's fucked up. It is. I'm off with some guy while he's planning a surprise party for me. But at the same time, I was honest with him after the fact and he still walked away from me.

So maybe this isn't just about Ryan and going to brunch with him. Maybe it's him realizing that my world isn't for him. And that just sucks.

"Can I please just talk to you?"

"Why?"

Troy turned his back to me and headed towards the elevator. I've been sitting in this lobby for an hour just waiting for him.

I grabbed my purse and my phone from the table and ran after him. Well, not literally. I just walked until I caught up with him in the elevators. And when the doors opened and he entered, he looked back at me and the look on his face made me think it was okay for me to walk in, too. It was softened. But still, he didn't look that pleased to see me. And I get it.

Which is exactly why I'm here. To apologize. For everything. For embarrassing him. For being annoying.

We rode up in silence, but as soon as we stopped foot into the Smith's penthouse, he took off his jacket, and threw it on the couch before turning to me, "What do you want, Gabriella?"

"Too tell you I'm sorry," I tell him for what felt like the hundredth time now, "for everything. For ever going out with Ryan and for not trusting what we had."

"Look, the Smith's are my family, but I'm not like them. I didn't grow up like them. You did. We're different. We come from different worlds and we live in different worlds and that's not going to change."

It seemed like he lightened up a little bit, which was good. I mean, he was talking back to me. So. That's good. "But that's the thing. I'm not all that different. I'm crazy about you and I want this to work out because you're the first guy I think to ever just like me for... me."

He looked at me and it looked like he was about to smile, but he shook his head slightly and turned around to grab his from from his jacket pocket.

I'm not sure what I'm going to say or how it's all going to come out, but 'm trying here.

And I hope he sees that.

"Things were going great. Better than great," I start telling him as his back is still turned to me, "and here I am, expecting us to take it to the next level but then all of a sudden you're blowing me off, cutting things short, distancing yourself, not talking to me on the phone. What am I supposed to think? It was then that I agreed to grab brunch with Ryan, go out with him, whatever you want to call it. I was vulnerable and he was there giving me attention and he was just always that person I could fall back on. It's always been like that. But it was out of anger and frustration that I agreed to it and it's honestly no excuse but I just want you to see where I'm coming from. I don't want to be with him."

"I didn't know you needed a title," he turns around.

It honestly sounds a little bitchy, but I brush it off. I'm not gonna let him run me out until we either fix things or move on completely from everything.

I looked down at the ground for a minute and tried gathering my thoughts. "Ryan wasn't the ideal boyfriend. I know that now but I kept running back to him because it felt safe. Because he got it. He understood it. He was part of all of this. And if you were any other guy, I'd probably be back in his arms because that's what I do. I go back to him whenever a new guy comes along..."

He shook his head, "Gabriella, you don't understand. I can't compete with these guys... I'm not in line to take over my dad's company, I don't eat caviar and ride around in limo's all day."

"You don't need to!" I cut him off, "you don't. And I honestly thought you knew that. It's only been a month, but I'm crazy about you and I will never forgive myself if I walked away from you without a fight. You have no problem telling me you don't want to go to some fancy event. You could spend hours with me on the couch reading a good book. You make me feel like the only girl in the world. You make me laugh like no other. And most important, you broke the Ryan curse. As pathetic and stupid as it sounds, you're the first guy to ever not make me want to go back to that, to him. And I knew that, but I was being stupid and not thinking and I just... I'm sorry. Truly and honestly, sitting there, I realized that I only wanted to be with you and I left that brunch with full closure from him, thinking I was free of him and I could run into you arms and... be happy."

Troy put his hands in his pockets and looked down at the ground for a second before looking back up at me.

I don't think he was mad anymore.

Which makes my heart flutter. And my stomach get butterflies. I gotta keep this going a little longer. "You see me for who I am. And you're the first guy to ever do something as incredibly sweet as throwing a surprise party for me with a Great Gatsby theme because it's my favorite book. I'm SO crazy for ever thinking you didn't care, and that you were being distant because you're over me. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry I'm such an asshole, but it's hard for me to believe that someone as good as you wants me. The girl who can't keep a guy. The girl who is stubborn and..."

"The girl who's kind and smart and funny and would give someone the shirt off her back if they really needed it? Who's unbelievably beautiful and would rather have her head in some book than be at some fancy party?"

Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. "What?"

He came closer to me. "You're crazy to think that some decent guy wouldn't want you because everyone wants you and that's why I acted the way I did. How you can just be taken away from me at any second. There are so many guys here who have everything, can get you into any place..."

"I don't even care about that! I don't."

"I know," he nods, "and I said everything out of anger. I didn't mean any of it. You are different. And you are special. And every minute we've spent together has been amazing and I don't want that to stop. I'm sorry I didn't realize sooner that this needed to be more stable."

"No, maybe I was asking for too much too soon, I just..."

Troy laughed and shook his head, "I'm in the same boat as you. I promise you. I just honestly thought it just transitioned naturally and you didn't need me to say it, bring it up..."

I looked up at him and smiled a bit before digging in my purse and pulling out my birthday invitation and holding it up. "You're the sweetest."

"Explains why I was being distant. I didn't want to spill the secret."

"Don't be mad at my grandma," I tell him, "I'll still be surprised, but I'm stubborn and she wanted me to talk to you sooner rather than later and I'm glad because I think this is moving froward, right?"

"Right," he moves closer to me, "of course it is. I'd be crazy to let you go. You're my girlfriend."

Girlfriend.

Ahhh, those words gave me chills.

I can't believe how incredibly lucky I am. Troy Bolton is the hottest, most kind-hearted, smartest, funniest guy I know. Seriously, what did I do to deserve this? "And you're my boyfriend and I'm crazy about you and only you."

He closed the gap between us with the sweetest of kisses. It was perfect. It was the start of something wonderful.

Something very wonderful.

And I could not be more excited about it.

* * *

It's been a couple of days since Troy and I made up, so I think it's safe to bring this up now.

At least I hope it is.

"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" I put my pencil down and turn to Troy slightly whose head is deep into his book, trying to figure out a problem, it's really cute actually. "or should I wait until after you're done?"

Troy looked up and shook his head immediately, "nah, I'm over it. I need a break," he put his pencil down and gave me a small smile, "what's up?"

Fuck. How do I bring this up without starting another fight? Do I just preface it with that, like, hey I don't want to start a fight, it's simply a question, but... no, huh? That's such an asshole thing to say and it probably WILL start a fight. But ugh, it's been on my mind and I NEED to know. And I know thins are good right now between us and we're boyfriend and girlfriend so it's not THAT big of an issue, but it's something that's been bothering me for a couple of weeks.

"I know we're good and everything, but who's Angela?" I take a deep breath, "is she, um, she's your ex girlfriend?"

Troy had a blank stare on his face and I couldn't tell what he was feeling, but then he nodded, looking down for a moment before looking back up at me, "yeah, she's an ex girlfriend. We dated for about a year, broke up a few weeks before I moved over here."

A FEW WEEKS? Fuck. Is he still into her, but won't do anything since it's long distance? I NEED TO KNOW THIS. I can't be the other girl.

At the same time, he shared more than I thought he would at first. So, um, maybe it's nothing and I'm being crazy? "Oh. Um did you guys break up because you were moving over here?"

Please say no. Please say no. Please say no. "No, that wasn't the reason."

"Oh," is all I can say. I don't want to pry, really.

"She cheated on me," he said with a slight laugh, "said me moving was really hard on her and that she was trying to get over it, but it's total bullshit because I was willing to do long distance. It would have been hard, but I was willing to fly back and forth. To see her and my family that was staying behind."

Wow long distance. So he must have really loved her. "And now she wants you back? I'm sorry, I shouldn't have read that text, it was just there in the open."

He shook his head and shrugged, "no, it's okay. And I guess something like that, I don't know."

"Do you still have feelings for her?"

"It's kind of hard to have feelings for someone when you have such crazy feelings for someone else," he smiles at me.

And I couldn't help, but break into smile and a bit of laughter, "I'm serious, Troy. I want us to be one hundred percent honest with each other. You know all about Ryan. How it was. How I don't ever want to go back with him and now I want to know about you... why I'm your girlfriend and she's not, you know?"

He nodded and gave me a small smile, "no, yeah, yeah, that's absolutely fair. And we should definitely talk about it. But it's true. I have such crazy feelings for you that there's really no place for some other girl. And I'm serious."

"But you were willing to do long distance," I argue, "this girl must've been something special. Chicago to New York isn't an hour car right."

"Yeah, I was, but then that happened and I came here single, met you and fell for you," he tells me, scooting his chair closer to me, "I don't want to have to convince you that I only want to be with you. I just want you to feel it. But I'll tell you anyway, I only want to be with you. Not Angela. Or anyone else."

I feel it. I feel it one hundred percent. How could I not when his blue eyes are staring so adoringly into mine?

But I still have a couple more questions.

"When you were in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, did you guys meet up?" I ask, nervous about the answer, even though it doesn't really matter at this point anymore. I just really want to know if that's why he went. "I mean, I know I have no right to ask after what I did, but..."

"No," he interrupts me, "I didn't meet up with her in Chicago."

"You didn't?"

He shook his head and gave me a small smile before going on, "yes, she wanted to meet up and talk about everything that's happened. But I didn't. I had the closure I needed from her and I was moved on. I had you. I went to Chicago to visit family and that's it."

I felt relieved, even though I had no place to judge. I mean, I met up with my ex boyfriend WHILE he was in town. How stupid is that? But at the same time, him meeting up with her would have been different than Ryan and I meeting up, I think. I met with up with Ryan because it was normal. That's what always happens. And it's not an excuse, but whatever. And Troy, I think if he would have met up with her, it would have been because there was something there.

"I just wanted to know," I shrug, "not that it would make a different because we're past that, but I just wanted to see where your head was at."

"With you," is his simple answer that makes me smile like no other.

It's all so cheesy, but at the same time, it's not because I know it's true. I can feel it.

He leans in and gives me a kiss on the lips and then one on my forehead, which gets me every time. Kisses on the forehead are the most romantic thing in this world. I don't care what anyone else says. I feel like they mean more than a kiss on the lips sometimes. Ahhh, I love them.

"So, it's me and you," I say as I grab his hand and start playing with it, "let's forget everything that's happened, all the exes, the shadiness, the lying..."

He laughed. He was definitely being shady while planning my party. "I honestly don't know how you got me so wrapped up and it's only been a month, like, this has never happened to me before."

A month of dating. A month and a few weeks. And now we're boyfriend and girlfriend. Granted, we hung out for like a month before that, but still. We're finally official and my God, it feels so good knowing I have a boyfriend who cares for me. Who will be there for me, through the good and the bad.

And the fact that I learned that in a month, well, shows how much we like each other. I'm falling... fast.

And I don't think I plan on stopping anytime soon.


	23. Chapter 23

This party was amazing.

Amazing, amazing, amazing. I seriously don't know how else to describe it.

And I cannot believe that Troy Bolton, my official boyfriend of two weeks, put this all together. His idea, his vision, his guest list which down to a T was made up of everyone I wanted. Honestly. Everything about this party is ugh, just so unbelievable and I can't believe he wanted to do all of this for me.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Troy asks as he sneaks up behind me.

"Yes," I breathed out turning to face him, "everything is perfect." It was perfect. And more.

"I'm glad."

He gave me a kiss on the forehead and then a small smile. He had to consult with my family, my friends, obviously, to get this guest list, but he did a pretty damn good job. My grandma, my cousins, my aunts and uncles, all my friends from school and my friends not from school. I know I keep going on about how perfect it is, but I'm serious. He did such a good job. And I'm so amazed he was able to pull it off. Well, sort of.

My grandma told me, but if she didn't need to, or if my friends didn't eventually have to step in, he would have succeeded. Not a single soul told me.

I looked out at everyone and couldn't help, but smile until my eyes landed on someone.

"You invited Ryan?" I turned around to face Troy.

"I know regardless of everything, you two are friends," he shrugs, "is that okay?"

Yes, regardless of everything, we are friends. But I know for a fact Ryan didn't have an invitation to my party a week ago because I ran into his mother like five days ago and she asked if she could take me out to dinner for my birthday, which she wouldn't have if she knew about this party because she's a terrible liar. So he had to have invited him no less than four days ago. Right? I mean. How great of a guy is he.

Inviting my ex boyfriend after he knows everything about him. After I spent almost an hour one night telling him how our relationship worked.

And he's here tonight because of him.

It shows that he trusts me and that makes me so incredibly happy.

I grabbed the of his head, pulled it towards me and gave him the most passionate kiss I could. He was absolutely perfect. And nice. And sweet. And I don't know how I won him over, but I did and he makes me feel like a million bucks. Seriously. I'm so happy. I can't say it enough.

"What?"

"I really like you," I tell him, "thank you for everything."

"Let's go party," he gives me one more kiss before pulling me away from this spot away from everyone.

Yes, let's. I'm so ready.

We headed over to everyone and as we were making out way through the crowd, Stacy stepped in and stole me away from Troy. He told me he was gonna go grab a drink so I let him and turned back to Stacy, who was smiling at me and holding a present.

She pushed some of her dirty blonde hair out of her face and continued to smile at me, "Happy birthday, girl! You look so fabulous."

"Thanks, Stace," I give her a hug and look down at the present, "you didn't have to get me anything."

"Nonsense," she shakes her head, "it's your birthday. The big 1-8, of course I did. Plus, you're still with Troy and not back with Ryan so I have to thank you for that as well, because you know, Troy's a good guy and I'm happy he's happy and..."

"I really like him," I assured her before she could say anything else on the matter, "there's nothing to worry about. Ryan and I are completely done and I'm moving on with Troy. He... he gets me."

She smiled at me and nodded, "If I'm being honest, even knowing your whole history with Ryan, if he were to tell me to set me up with someone when he first got here, you'd be the first girl I'd think of because you're similar and have things in common and you're an "it" girl, but you're so much more than that"

I've always liked Stacy and I sometimes wondered why we're not closer because she is a really nice girl.

Like right now. She's being so supportive. And I know how she can be with her brother's girlfriends. So this is nice.

I think I passed the test? "That means a lot. I know he's not from this world, I get it, so it also means a lot that he didn't just ride me off as some Manhattan Elite girl, you know?"

"Troy's much more of a gentleman that that," she chuckles, "but yeah, I'm happy you both are happy and I hope it all works out."

"Me, too," I nod as I look over at him laughing with Savannah, "me too."

And right now, I can't see why it won't.

* * *

Cassie walked over to me with a drink in her hand laughing at something someone just told her.

And when she got to me, she hugged me, out of nowhere, and told me how much she loved me. "Seriously, happy birthday. I love you so much."

I knew she was pretty drunk, but it was still nice. I know she means it. And that's the thing I love most abut my friends. Drunk or not, we tell each other everything. If she was drunk right now and I did something to piss her off the other day and it would have come out right now, I would have already known about it because she would have told me the second it happened. There's no bullshit between us. We're honest all of the time.

She doesn't like the way I talked to her? She'll tell me. And vice versa. It's like that with all of our friends and I'm so, so, so thankful for that.

I'm not sure why I'm thinking about this right now, but I am.

Well, maybe because I saw these two girls yell at each other and they're best friends and I don't know, it got me thinking a bit. How my friends and I can fight but it'll go back to how it was within ten minutes because we compromise or get over it because it's better to have each other than not have each other.

And I'm also just thinking about how incredibly lucky I am to have the people I have in my life right now.

My parents, who are here mingling with family friends.

My brother, who's dancing up a storm with his girlfriend being all lovey dovey.

My family, my grandparents and aunts and cousins and uncles and everyone else in between that I couldn't live without.

My friends, who get me through my days, have seen me at my best and worst, and accept all of me. Who support me, love me, and inspire me.

And Troy.

Troy Bolton, who's only been my boyfriend for two weeks, but my God. I hit the jackpot. I know I did. And I'm never taking him for granted.

"Hey, what're you thinking about?"

I turn around and see my grandma there holding a glass of wine, because she's still got it going on. "Oh, um, no, nothing. I was just thinking about how this party is amazing. I can't believe he pulled it off. Like, I seriously had no idea what was going on. And even with you telling me, I'm still so surprised about it."

She smiled and grabbed my hair and tossed it behind my shoulder, "he did an amazing job, you're so lucky to have him, you know."

"I know," I smiled at her, tears almost forming in my eyes.

"It's like he was the last missing puzzle piece," she tells me, "and I know it's soon, and I know you're young, but I met your grandpa my senior year of high school, too. And look at us now. 46 years together. I just know I have a good feeling about this one."

Gah, I don't want to jinx it.

For all I know, in a month, I could wake up and not be into him or vice versa.

But I do know, I can't possibly see that being true any time soon. And it scares me so much. Like, how is it possible for me to like a guy this much so soon?

My grandma and I chatted a little bit longer and when she excused herself to go to the bathroom, I grabbed my water from the table and turned around to head back to everyone. I've been in this corner way too long. People are gonna start asking questions, trying to figure out if something is wrong or not.

On my way to where all my friends are, I bumped into Ryan.

Literally bumped into him. Ahh.

"Hey," he smiles at me, holding out my present, "um, happy birthday."

This was weird. I've spent my past two birthdays with him, just us, doing something intimate. And now. Well, now, my boyfriend's throwing my this party and he's here and I don't know. I just feel really weird about the whole thing. But at the same time, I feel good. Ryan and I are friends.

I mean, our parents are friends. We can't avoid each other for ever. And we shouldn't avoid each other.

"Thank you," I go in for a hug because why not? I'm mature. He's mature... sort of. We can be friendly. "thanks for coming."

"Yeah, yeah," he pushes his hair back even though it's short, "well, thank Troy for inviting me. And um, I know this is kind of weird, but we were friends first and so, I hope we always can be... respectfully, of course."

I'm happy he added that last part in. We were friends before, but friends who hung out all the time and that's why it led to us dating. We can't be those kind of friends anymore. We have to be friends that say hi to each other at parties, talk here and there, hang out in groups. It wouldn't be fair to Troy. And quite honestly, I don't really want that. I'm content in my life. And although, I can't imagine life without Ryan in it, right now, it's best if we're just... cordial.

It's nice that he's here, though, because a lot of his friends are so he shouldn't miss out on a fabulous party. "No, yeah, yeah, of course. Me too."

I thank him once again for the present and then make my way over to Troy, who's talking to my grandpa about something, which is the cutest thing in the whole world. Honestly. Your boyfriend getting along with your family? SWOON.

"Hey," I sneak up behind him.

He turns around and immediately gives me a smile, "where were you?'

I smile at my grandpa and then look back at Troy and shrug, "I was just mingling. What are you guys doing?"

"We're just talking," my grandpa chimes in as he grabs his beer from the bar, "about how in the world he managed to pull this off when your friends can't keep anything from you and vice versa. And we can't believe your grandma had to give it away, but I guess you were still surprised so that's good."

As soon as my grandpa said that, he excused himself... which made me laugh. He was such a weirdo, I loved it. One minute he's talking, the next he's gone.

I turn back to Troy, grab his hands into mine and look lovingly into his eyes like a lame girlfriend. "Thank you so much for all of this."

"When your friends told me they've never thrown you a surprise party, I figured maybe I should," he shrugged it off as it was nothing. So modest. "I'm just glad you like it. I've never thrown one before."

"I love it," I looked around the place, which was decked out in Gatsby themed things, "honestly, this is one of the best birthdays I've ever had."

"Good," he leans down and kisses me, "I'm happy you're happy."

Oh, I'm SO happy.


	24. Chapter 24

"I don't know, Cass, do you think it might be too soon?" I throw my favorite sweater into my duffel bag, "We've only been dating less than two months."

Cassie sat up on my bed and looked up from her magazine and tilted her head, "It's not like you're primarily going over there to meet his parents. You're going to a concert and so meeting his parents is an opportunity, you know? Look at it that way."

Yeah, she's right, but still. I'm SO nervous about it.

On top of the amazing birthday party he threw me, he got me tickets to see John Mayer. John freaking Mayer who is my all time favorite musician. And he's a fan, too, so he thought it'd be fun to take me. But the only problem is, tickets were sold out. He literally added a show to his Chicago trip a night before my party and Troy thought it was fate. So he got us tickets. In Chicago. CHICAGO WHERE HIS PARENTS LIVE. AHHHH.

"And besides, he's already met your parents, so it's not that weird," she adds, throwing the magazine off to the side, "wait, are you staying with them?"

"YES!" I freak out a little bit. His parents just mean so much to him. "And it was different. He met my parents when we were friends, when we were working on a school project. I'm his girlfriend. This is more serious. And I'm so nervous. What if they don't like me and they ask him to break up with me?"

"Shut up, they're not gonna make him break up with you. They're going to like you."

Easy for her to just say. But she's my best friend, she's supposed to reassure me, of course.

I sigh and throw in a pair of jeans into my bag as well, "I know that if they were here, I would have already met them, but since I have to go to Chicago and meet them there, it just seems so much more serious. Almost like I'm an adult and going home for Christmas or something, you know? Like in those movies where the guy brings his girlfriend home and it's this big thing."

"I know it might feel like that, but it's just a high school girlfriend meeting her boyfriend's parents. It's not a big deal, you guys are young. Have fun with it."

"No, yeah, I know, I shouldn't put so much pressure on myself, but we come from different worlds, ya know?"

"Stop saying that," Cassie rolls her eyes and gets off my bed, "he lived in New York before. And Chicago is not that different, okay? You're acting like he's from freaking Montana where there's like no city life. Or some other country. It's all gonna be fine, just be the Gabriella we know and love."

She's right. I have to calm down. It won't be that big of a deal. I mean, we get in Friday, go to the concert, stay one day there and come back Sunday.

One day of hanging out with them. It won't be too bad.

Cassie goes and uses the restroom while I decide what shoes to take. Definitely won't need any heels so I cross those off the list. I'm gonna take some boots before it's probably freezing over there right now. More so than here. Or maybe the same. I don't really know. I've been to Chicago in the Winter, but I forgot how it was like. I throw in some converse in cake we go walking around the city. And then I throw in little Valentino boots that are to die for. Along with that, I pack two coats. I can reuse them, right? It's just a coat. Yeah, yeah I can. I grab two of my favorite jeans and throw them in there as well. One for the concert and the other for Saturday during the day. And then I grab two pairs of yoga pants. For sleeping and for the plane ride home.

Okay, I think I'm all set. Outfits, undergarments, toothpaste and all that... am I missing anything?

"Has Troy told you anything about his parents?" Cassie comes strolling out of the bathroom, her hair now up in a bun, "like, what to expect or anything?"

I zipped up my duffel and threw it by my door so I don't forget it tomorrow morning, even though I'm sure I won't, "Kind of. He doesn't really want me go in with any ideas of how they'll be, but he keeps telling me that I have nothing to worry about. So I don't know. But I do, know, they weren't his ex's biggest fan which is a little intimidating. And I didn't even find out from him! Stacy told me. That worries me a little bit."

Cassie sighed and went over to my dresser and grabbed my chapstick and applied some, "did she tell you why they didn't like her or just that they didn't?"

"No, just that they didn't like her. It looked like she regretted telling me, so of course she's not gonna tell me why," I put my hair up in a bun just like she did, "I don't think I want to know because then I'll just be trying way too hard."

"Yeah, true," Cassie laughed, "remember when you met Steve's parents and it just went disastrously? Let's now have a repeat of that."

Oh God. That was the worst. "I pray to God that doesn't happen."

It was 10 pm. I had an early flight tomorrow, well 8:30, and although we were on Winter Break and Cassie could stay out as late as she wanted to, she decided to go home and let me just some rest, which was nice of her because I was really tired and I can't sleep on planes. I try and try, but I just can't.

She grabbed her purse from on top of my chair in the corner of the room and then came over to me, looked me right in the eyes and then gave me a long, warm hug. "They're going to love you. You're going to be fine. And you're gonna have the best time, okay?"

I nodded into her shoulder and then broke apart the hug and gave her a smile. "Thanks, Cass. I'll text you as soon as I land."

"Yeah, you better. And give me updates."

"Of course," I laugh as I walk her out of my room and down the stairs to the elevator.

I couldn't believe that tomorrow morning, I'll be on a plane to Chicago. I'm going to be meeting my boyfriend's parents. A boyfriend I'm crazy about.

And I also couldn't believe that at this time last year, I was packing to go on a mini trip with Ryan, Savannah, Charlotte and a couple of Ryan's friends. We were going on a ski trip and I wasn't even sure I wanted to go anymore because Ryan and I just got into a fight. Over me not wanting him to go out as much as he would. It's not that uncommon of a request if you're dating someone. It's just now. And he went on about how I don't trust him, blah, blah blah. And it was just a lot for me to handle and I didn't want to go. But Savannah and Charlotte were stoked to get out of New York for a couple days so I put on a brave face and went... and yes, we made up, but not for one whole day.

Still, the point of the story is, I'm at such a different place in my life now. I have a boyfriend who I don't fight with weekly.

I'm happy.

I'm so freaking happy, it's insane.

* * *

Chicago is so pretty. Breathtaking. If I didn't live in New York, Chicago or LA would be where I'd want to live. It's so city, but at the same time, it has this suburban feel to it. And I love that. I sometimes wished I lived in the suburbs instead of in a building.

But luckily for me, I get a little taste of it since Troy's parents live in the suburbs about 20 minutes away from the city. Orland Park.

It's so freaking beautiful. We're driving through the neighborhoods right now on the way to his house and it's breathtaking. I love, love, love neighborhoods like this where the kids can just run around and ride their bike down the street. It's so cool. I sometimes can't imagine leaving New York, but if I ever did, I'd definitely live in a suburb. What a great place to raise children. No wonder his parents moved.

"So, do you think your place in New York will be done soon?"

Troy looked over at me from looking out the window and shrugged, "Maybe January. We could have moved in if my mom didn't keep adding things."

I laughed. Reminds me of my mom. Always wanting to adjust things, paint things different, etc. "At least you're able to visit them. I couldn't imagine being away from my parents for months like this."

"I've been doing okay," he grabs my hand and gives me a small smile which makes my heart flutter, "but yeah, hopefully they'll move to New York soon."

I was gonna ask him a couple of more questions, you know, to get me ready to meet his parents, but then all of a sudden we pulled into his driveway. His beautiful, big, long driveway. Those driveways that fit like 20 cars because it was circular. I don't know how to explain it, but it was pretty big.

Like his house. Oh my gosh. His house was huge. And so beautiful. It was stunning. It was decked out in Christmas decorations which only added to it's beautifulness. I desperately wanted to move in. Obviously, that'd be weird, though.

Troy looked over at me, smiled, and then took my hand, "you ready?"

I nod, giving him a small smile. I was so nervous. But I'm ready as I'll ever be. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Before we got out, he leaned over and gave me a kiss. Probably to reassure me that everything will be fine. And it worked. It put my mind at easy a bit.

We got out, grabbed out luggage out of the trunk of this taxi and made our way up to his front door. We stood there in the freezing cold as we waited for his parents to open the door for us. It was FREEZING. So cold. But thank God I'm used to weather like this or I'd be upset right now.

No less than a minute later, a lady opened the door.

She had on an apron, her hair was down and her hair was pushed back with a headband. And she was GORGEOUS.

"My baby!" she immediately exclaimed, opening her arms wide open and embracing Troy in a long, hard hard, "I've missed you so much, oh my gosh."

I couldn't help, but smile. He was only here a few weeks ago, right? More than a few weeks. But the way she was embracing him, it's like she had not seem him in months and that made me smile because it meant they were close. Meant than weeks felt like months to them. I don't know, it was nice.

Troy laughed and pulled away, "I've missed you, too, mom."

And then he stepped to the side and his mom and I came face to face for the first time.

She right away smiled at me sweetly and told me hi and I thought that was gonna be the extent of it, you know, saying hi with a smile, but before I know it, I'm being pulled into a hug. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Gabriella. I'm Andrea. But you could call me Andi if you'd like. Whatever is fine by me."

This woman is GORGEOUS. Honestly. Well, she is young, I know that. But still. SO pretty. I'm jealous. "Thanks for having me."

"Oh of course," she said sweetly before motioning for us to come in, "any friend of Troy's is a friend of mine. Or girlfriend. Whatever. You know what I mean, but come in, come in. It's freezing outside. I was just whipping up some banana bread and hot chocolate."

Hot chocolate? A woman after my own heart. I live for hot chocolate. I can drink it all day, everyday. Especially peppermint hot chocolate from Starbucks.

Troy smiled and led us in, "thanks mom."

We followed her to the kitchen, which was gorgeous. It was big and roomy and had an island in the middle and oh my gosh, it was perfect in every way possible. If I were them, I wouldn't want to leave this place at all.

I put my purse down on one of the stools and Troy went over to the fridge and grabbed me a water and one for himself, too. I was SO thirsty.

His mom went over to the oven and checked on her bread and realized it still needed time.

She took off her over mitts, went over to the refrigerator and took out a bowl strawberries and placed them on the counter, "help yourselves. Are you guys hungry or did you have breakfast already? I can whip you guys up something. I haven't been home all morning. And when I did get home, I went right to making the bread, but I have eggs or pancakes. I can..."

"Mom, we're fine," Troy laughed, "we already ate. So, these strawberries will do."

It's 11 right now. Our flight left at exactly 8:30 and landed at exactly 11, well New York time. 10 Chicago. It took us 30 minutes to get everything and grab a taxi and so by the time we got here, it was 11. We had breakfast burritos that we picked up on the way to the airport so I'm still not hungry.

But she's incredibly sweet to offer us something.

"I still feel bad you guys had to take a cab," she shakes her head, "I had a doctor's appointment this morning."

Oh, that's where she was? Troy just told me she couldn't. "Oh, um, is everything okay?"

She nodded and went over to wash her hands in the sink, "oh yes, yes, I was getting a mole checked out, but they told me it's nothing to worry about. And before my appointment, I had to take Sienna to Maggie's house for a play date so it's just been a busy morning, but everything's slowing down now."

Andrea looked SO sweet. She was smiley and warm and I just didn't get a mean vibe from her so I couldn't imagine her not liking Troy's ex. I just couldn't.

She then came over to us and leaned forward on the counter, looking right at me, "Troy never told me how beautiful you really are. I'm so happy you could come for the weekend. It's our last big hurrah in this house and although, it's your first time in it, it's nice you're here."

Uhhh, what is she talking about? Last big hurrah? What does that mean?

I looked over at Troy and he smiled at me and then chuckled a bit before throwing a strawberry in his mouth to avoid talking.

What is she talking about? Are they having a party here?

"Troy!" his mom got up a bit and scolded him in a playful way, "you didn't tell her about this weekend?"

"I forgot!" He sat up and defended himself, "I really forgot. I mean, I didn't forget Sienna was having a party, but I did forget to tell her. You," he turns to me, "but um, surprise. You're not only meeting my mom and dad and sister, you're meeting my grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins."

Oh umm okay. Okay. It's gonna be fine, Gabriella. Don't react badly. Don't show you're upset. Actually... I'm not upset. Just more nervous now. Fuck.

I smile so it doesn't seem like it's something I'm mad about because the last thing I want is this woman to think I don't want to meet his entire family. It's not a big deal, right? He's met mine. "No, um, that's fine. I'm always down for a party."

"Good," Andrea smiled and turned around to the beeping oven, "it's going to be so fun. Sienna is so excited. She's been looking forward to meeting you."

She has? Awwww. "Well, I've heard only good things."

Andrea laughed and placed the banana bread on the counter on top of a place mat, "She's in this story telling phase so if it just gets to be too much, don't be afraid to tell her that you have an important call. I've used that excuse quite a few times these past few weeks. And she hasn't figured it out."

My youngest cousin is 7 years old, so I think I'll be okay. I'm not really around children to be honest, but I love them.

"My husband's at work, but he'll be here later. Do you guys have dinner plans? We'd love to take you into the city and show you around."

"I'd like that," I say politely and then realize that I have to stop being so formal or else it's going to come off like I'm trying too hard and I would never want her to think that, "my dad swears by the life of him that RPM is the best restaurant in Chicago."

Andrea's face lit up, "Well, RPM is exactly where we were planning on going. Jack's best friend is the owner."

Jack is Troy's dad. Jack Bolton. Jack and Andrea Bolton. Ha.

"Okay, that would be great," I say formally again. Ugh. I'm just so nervous.

Andrea's phone then started ringing so she immediately answered it as she was taking out the banana bread from the pan. She held up her phone with her shoulder and flipped over the bread onto a plate so she can serve it. And she did it so flawlessy. I want to be her. Ha. That sounds really weird.

Troy then turned to me and grabbed my hand, "she's only getting started, you know. She always bombards people with so many questions so I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," I smile at him. I love answering questions... about anything, really. "she's nice."

And before he could say anything else, Andrea put her phone down on the table and looked up at us. "Well, I have to head out real quick. Sienna needs to be picked up and I promised her frozen yogurt yesterday for cleaning her whole room."

Troy suddenly got up, "We'll go."

We will? Oh okay.

"You sure?" Andrea stops taking off her apron, "I can do it, don't worry about it."

"No, I mean, it'll be a nice little surprise for her," he smiles, "plus, I can go for some frozen yogurt."

Andrea ties her apron back up and nods, going over to the fridge to grab herself a water bottle. "Okay, thanks. You remember where she lives right? Oh, also since you'll be out, do you think you can drop off something at grandma's house? It's on the way and I forgot to take them this morning."

Troy nods, grabs my hand and before I knew it, we're out the door.


	25. Chapter 25

"I don't think I want frozen yogurt anymore," Sienna Bolton speaks up from the back of the car, "it's too cold for that, don't you think, brother?"

Brother. That's what she calls him and it's the cutest thing.

Sienna is the cutest thing in the world. And I'm not just saying that because she's related to Troy Bolton. No, honestly. She has straight, honey brown hair that is past her shoulders. She has the hazelest of eyes. And the cutest little smile. She's SO freaking adorable.

Troy nodded as he turned out of the neighborhood we were in, "I think you're right. What do you want, a cupcake? Maybe some apple pie? Or some chocolate cake?"

I couldn't see her reaction, but judging by the tone of her voice, she was excited for all three. "Ummm, I want a cupcake!"

"Cupcakes it is," he glances back at her before looking ahead at the road.

"Is it okay if I call you Gabi?" she asks me, which made me smile like no other. She's such a little adult, I can't get over it. So well-spoken. "Because I like Gabriella but it's too long, don't you think? Gabi is short and cute and my friend's name is Gabi, too."

Well, how could I say no to that? I turned around in my seat, gave her a smile and told her absolutely. "You can call me whatever you want to call me."

She was honestly the cutest thing.

I grabbed my phone from my purse and texted my friends to let them know I was here and so far, so good.

And then before I knew it, we were pulling into the cutest shopping center. A few shops, a few places to eat and a cupcake place. It's so cool how you can just drive somewhere, pull into a parking lot and park your car next to the place you're going. Like, you can't do that in New York and ahh, I just love it.

Since Sienna was on my side, I opened the door for her and she hopped out of her car seat and then out of the car and quickly grabbed my hand to cross over.

Troy grabbed mine and then we all walked across the parking lot, hand in hand.

When we got inside, she ran to the counter and checked out all the cupcakes that were on display. And her big eyes got even bigger. Is it possible for kids to stay this age forever? Because if she's going to be in my life for a while, I'd like her at this age. She's SO cute and so far, so funny.

"I think I want chocolate," she turns around and tells Troy, "or maybe the sprinkle one. I don't know. I'm SO confused, they're all good!"

"Well, you only get one because it's lunchtime soon," he tells her.

She nods and turns around and contemplates it a bit more. She's going up and down, looking at all the cupcakes. I look at some, too, because I want one and I'm in the same predicament as Sienna. They all look SO good. How are we supposed to decide on just one? I have such a sweet tooth, it's absolutely disgusting.

Troy went over to Sienna and asked her to pick one so she just went with the chocolate one. Classic.

I was gonna be festive and go with the pumpkin one. Not only is it festive, but it's SO good. Pumpkin anything is good.

My sweet boyfriend payed for all of us and then we went to the corner and sat in one of the tables. Sienna immediately unwrapped the whole thing and started biting into it. Troy did the exact same thing. And I just carefully took off part of the paper where I was gonna bite it. I take off the paper as I go. And they.. well, they don't.

"My mom told me that you live in New York," Sienna tells me with chocolate all over her face, "I'm gonna move there, too. Do you think people will like me there?"

"Well, I don't see why they wouldn't. You're a nice girl."

She turned to Troy and smiled, "do people like you there? You said you didn't want to go."

Oh really, he said that? He never once gave me the impression that he hated New York or that he was miserable being there. Ha I cannot believe I'm learning this from his little five year old sister. How funny. But I mean, I wouldn't blame him, to be honest. This place looks like it's pretty cool living here.

"I like it now," he tells her before looking over at me with a small smile, "and I'm sure you'll like it, too. You're gonna make a ton of new friends there."

"Yeah, I can't wait to go to grandma's house, I just love her so much."

I bit into my cupcake some more and then put it down so I could wash it down with some water. Troy looked over at me to see if everything was okay, which it totally was. "It doesn't matter that you didn't want to come to New York. It's not like you knew me and still said you didn't want to come."

"True," he looked slightly embarrassed, "no, but yeah, I love it now. I really do. I don't think I would want to move back. I mean, maybe, but I don't want to."

No, yeah, I get it. He has friends here. If he wanted to move back, I want to say I wouldn't take it personally, but obviously it would sting a bit. I wonder why he didn't stay. I mean, he's old enough, right? Wow, I've never asked. Maybe I should.

But as I was about to, Troy turned his attention to two girls walking into this place. And he just stared. He stared but then looked down at his cupcake. Umm.

Okay, who's this? Is this... no. Is it Angela?

"Hey, you okay?" I ask him, putting my hand on top of his.

"Yeah," he lifts his head up and stares right into my eyes, "um, that girl that just walked in with the dark hair is Angela."

Oh fuuuuck. His ex girlfriend. His ex girlfriend who he dated before me. The most recent one. She wasn't paying attention to us, so I quickly looked over at her and got a good look. And yep.. she was beautiful. Long, dark hair. She was taller than me. And she had on the cutest boots. Ugh. I hate her.

No, I don't. But I am slightly jealous that this girl knows Troy better than I do. That they have more history. And that they were probably in love at some point.

And then finally, she looked over here. And our eyes locked. Fuuuck.

I immediately looked back at Troy and he smiled at me. I felt secure. I did. I just, I don't know. Are they gonna talk? Sienna continued eating her cupcake and her back was turned to Angela so she was clueless. And then I looked back up at Troy and he looked like he had no interest whatsoever in talking to her so that's good.

Right? Or no? I don't want to be that girl that prevents him from talking to people who were in his life, or are in his life, etc. But he himself had the opportunity to talk to her and he didn't. So maybe he truly doesn't want to. And I'm okay with that, too.

"If you wanna go say hi, go say hi," I tell him, thinking maybe he wants my approval or something, "I don't mind."

"I don't really want to," he says with a shrug as he eats the last of his cupcake.

Well, okay. I'm not gonna force him, too. I finish off my cupcake and then we wait for Sienna to finish hers. She eats SO slow. But it's cute, so who cares.

And then all of a sudden, Angela is standing by our table, her fiend hanging behind her a few feet away, and she's clutching onto her purse that's draping over her shoulder. She was beautiful. She really was. And it looked so effortlessly which made me sad. But at the same time, I have Troy now. I should be extremely happy.

Troy looked up at her with no emotion whatsoever.

And it looked like she really wanted to talk to him. "Hey."

"Hi," is all he told her.

She looked down at Sienna and put her hand on her hand which made Sienna look up. "Hi, Sienna."

All Sienna did was give her a small smile, tell her hi and then went back to eating her cupcake. And I found it so odd. Kids either love you or hate you. There's really no in between with them, right? And I got the vibe that Sienna did not care for Angela. And not that I'm happy about that because she could very well not like me tomorrow, but I just found it a little bit odd. It looked like she barely even knew the girl. She cares more about her cupcake than her.

"Anyway," Angela shrugs it off and turns back to Troy, "I didn't know you were in town."

"Yeah, I am," Troy told her, matter-of-factually, with no emotion whatsoever. I felt bad for the girl... kind of. But not really since she did cheat on him.

"Oh, well, um," Angela looked at me and I think she was trying to decide who I am. But if Troy told her anything, then she should probably know, right? Maybe she does know by the way she's looking at me. A little bit hurt, a little bit jealous. "Travis is having a party tomorrow night if you're interested. Should be fun."

Troy looks over t me and I don't really know what he's thinking. Obviously, I know we're not going because we have the concert, but I wonder what he thinks about her inviting him. "We have plans already, sorry."

Angela looks slightly embarrassed and I feel for that. It's not easy to get rejected by a guy. "Oh okay, well... this is weird. We can at least be friends, Troy."

"This is my girlfriend, Gabriella," Troy then tells her with a smile on her face.

Angela looks at me, no emotion whatsoever in her face. I knew she probably thought I was his girlfriend, but now that he's actually said something, it's probably feeling real to her. And by default, I don't like her. What she did to Troy was shitty. And really, who likes the ex girlfriend? Not a lot of people, so. No love lost here.

She then gave me the smallest of smiles, pushed some hair back behind her ear and nodded, "Hi, I'm Angela."

"Hey," is all I really tell her, with a smile, of course.

"Okay, well, I guess I'll let you guys get back to your little um... date," she says before turning around to walk back to her friend, but then she stops all of a sudden, turns to face us once again and apologizes to Troy. "I'm sorry. If that's worth anything to you. I hope you know I really mean it."

Troy just nodded and said thank you.

And that was that. She left, we went back to talking and Sienna didn't ask questions.

I felt happy. I felt happy that he introduced me as he girlfriend. I felt happy that he didn't lie to me. You could so tell he didn't see her the last time he was in Chicago because she genuinely looked surprised to see him. And she called it out for being weird. I just felt really happy in this moment. Maybe not for Angela, specifically, but for me. And our relationship together. It shows he's into me. And I'm into him. And gah, I just really like him. I'm happy.

Really, really happy.

* * *

"Oh, Gabriella, you have to try the lasagna here," Troy's dad, Jack tells me, "it's the best lasagna I've ever tasted."

I smiled at him and then looked back down at the menu. There were so many options, but that does sound pretty good right now. Or any of the pastas. The angel hair pasta sounds good. All of it sounds good. I'm starving. And I just really want to eat. "Yeah, I think I might do that. I could go for some lasagna."

Jack gave me a warm smile at then picked up his glass of wine and took a sip, "we hear your favorite food is probably sushi, but we couldn't resist bringing you here. Best Italian food in the city."

"No, yeah, this is great, I love Italian food just as much," I grab a piece of bread from the center.

Troy turns to me and gives me a small smile before taking a sip of his water..

This trip is going better than I thought. I had NOTHING to be nervous about. His parents are SO nice. Like, I didn't doubt they'd be nice, but Stacy told me good luck a couple of days ago and I think that just threw me off a bit. It was probably just a general statement, you know? Like, who doesn't tell someone good luck before they meet their boyfriend or girlfriends parents. But then again, the good luck was followed by that they didn't care for Angela so yeah. Stacy definitely threw me off a bit, but so far, so good. They've been extremely nice to met. And I feel like everything's going good.

I mean, Sienna wanted me to do her hair before we left. She wanted it in a pretty braid and Andrea told her she could do it since it was complicated, but Sienna wanted me and that made me feel happy. And it was a bit complicated, but I ended up doing it for her.

"So, Troy tells me your dad is the owner of our favorite hotel in New York," Jack tells me as he also grabs a piece of bread from the center of the table.

"Oh, um, yeah," I always feel uncomfortable talking about my dad and I don't know why. I should be SO proud of his success.

And I am. But it's just.. I don't want to brag.

Jack nodded and looked over at Troy and then back at me, "We asked. Well, we asked about you, and so he told us a bit about your life. Are you thinking about going the hotel route, too? Or do you have other plans for your future?"

"I think about it often," I warm up to the idea of talking about it, "I grew up around it. It's fascinating. I love it. But I also love reading and writing so I'm not sure. Some days, I want to open a restaurant or take over my dad's hotel and then the next day, I wanna write a book."

"Wow, a book" he sounded impressed and that made me happy, "that takes a lot. That's good."

"Yeah, but we'll see. I'm young, still. Anything can happen."

And then in the next moment, the waiter came over and brought us our appetizers. Fried Zucchini which I love. I'm obsessed with zucchini and with fried food so this is perfect for me. And I guess for the, too, since they suggested we ordered it and I was definitely not against it one bit. Ha.

We all grabbed some on our plate except for Sienna who decided she didn't like them. Ugh, she was so cute.

Andrea then turned to me as she was dipping her fried zucchini in the ranch, "How do you like living in New York? You've lived there your whole life, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, born and raised. My dad who is from here actually wanted to move to Chicago and ave me there, but business took off so it didn't happen, but yeah, I love it. It's all I know, though. Sometimes I imagine life in a small town..."

"It's pretty great," she smiles at me, "I mean, I love the city. But being able to go down the street to the grocery store and have it not be a mission is pretty great. I am excited about moving back to New York. We have family there. But I don't think anything beats the suburbs."

Probably not. I wouldn't really know, though. I don't know if I'd get bored, to be honest. But I often imagine myself living in the suburbs, for sure.

Sienna then announced that she was going to be a doctor so she could help all the sick people in the world. And if that isn't cute, then I don't know what is.

"Oh, yeah? Well, I'm sure you're going to be the best doctor ever," Jack tells her with a laugh.

"I am," she says proudly at her dad before turning to me, "Gabriella, I mean Gabi, do you like my brother?"

What? Ha. I mean, this little girl is smart. She is going to be 6, but that's so funny how she just straight up asked me. And now everyone's eyes are on me and even though they obviously know the answer, I feel like they're pressuring me not to answer it wrong. "I do. I do like your brother."

Sienna laughs and sits up in her seat a little bit, "Angela used to like him, too, and now you like him. That's so crazy!"

Jack and Andrea looked at her as if she said something horribly wrong, but I mean, she's six. Who cares. And also, we saw Angela today. It's probably just in her mind right now which is totally okay. I'm not mad.

"Sienna, we don't talk about Angela anymore," Andrea tells her, "she's in the past, okay?"

"But mom, we saw her today at the cupcake store. She said hi to me!"

Andrea looked up at Troy to confirm this was true and Troy just nodded and looked a bit uncomfortable. I don't even know what was going on or why the mood changed so suddenly. What did Andrea do to them beside cheat on Troy? Does Jack not like her, either? Or is it just Andrea that doesn't like her?

Troy took a sip of his water and then pushed it off to the side, leaning forward a bit. "Yeah, we saw her today. She said hi and invited us to a party."

"How was it?" she asked before looking over at me, "I'm sorry, I know you probably don't wanna hear about the ex girlfriend."

Oh um, if Troy was talking about her in our everyday lives in a positive way then I would care. But if it gets brought up in conversation, who cares? I'm not crazy. And I mean, I'm secure about this relationship. He had a second chance with Angela and he didn't take it. So who cares. They can talk about her all they want. As long as they're not saying they miss her. "No, it's fine. I don't mind."

Andrea gave me a small smile and turned back to go, "I actually ran into her the other day, too. It took all my might to be nice to her."

Troy just shook his head, probably feeling bad for the girl. No one seems to like her. Sienna didn't even seem interested in her. "Yeah, I mean, it was fine. She didn't mention running into you, though."

"Poor girl looked like she was trying to get away from me, to be honest," she laughed, "no, I'm not gonna bash her. All I'm gonna say I'm glad she's no longer in the picture. It's just... no, I won't get into it in front of..." she motioned to Sienna who was looking down at her book. "But yeah..."

WHAT HAPPENED? I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. Ugh.

And once they got done talking about Angela, Andrea turned to me, gave me a small smile and told me quite possibly the nicest thing. "I like you, Gabriella."

Okay, that's all it took for me to smile from ear to ear. Andrea Bolton likes me.

That feels SO good.


	26. Chapter 26

"I just feel like having pasta," Morgan announces as she enters Charlotte's house where we're all at.

Charlotte grabs the menu from the best Italian restaurant in town and is on board with her idea. We're all on board, actually. We're all starving and we've spent the last 10 minutes trying to decide, but no one said what they were feeling so thank God for Morgan coming in and saying exactly what she wanted.

Pasta it is. Well, Italian food.

Morgan takes off her coat and comes over to where I'm sitting, "I can't believe Christmas is in a week. Where did the time go?"

Seriously. I have NO idea. "I'm so excited. We still need to go ice skating."

"Yes!" Savannah exclaims, taking her eyes off her phone, "with our boyfriends. Three of us have boyfriends. That'll be so cute, don't you guys think?"

The ones that don't, Charlotte and Morgan, look at each other and roll their eyes. Ha. I don't want to exclude them ever and of course they're invited. It's our tradition. But I think it'll be cool and cute to bring our boyfriends along. Usually Morgan and Brendan go on their own since they've been together for a couple Christmases now, but she'll come with us, too. And now that Savannah and I have boyfriends, what do we do? We should just do like a double date with them, huh? And still do our girl thing.

"I think we should just keep tradition," I suggest, "and then just do what Morgan and Brendan do. They go separately."

"Fine," Savannah agrees.

Charlotte goes over to her kitchen and comes back a minute later with a container of chocolate covered strawberries. Thank God. I'm starving and this is definitely going to hold me over until dinner.

It was girls' night. I don't know what Troy's doing because well, during girls night, we cut off communication with our boyfriends.

Sounds a bit dramatic, but it's not. It's only for a couple of hours. Like, obviously after a couple of hours, maybe around 9 or so, I can text him and ask what he's up to. It's nothing mandatory. But it's just something we like to do. My friends are everything to me and of course I'm not gonna cut them off because I now have a boyfriend. Cassie struggled with it a bit at the beginning since all she wanted to do was spend time with Brendan, but she realized friends are always gonna be there.

It was different for me right now, though. Troy's in Chicago. I flew back by myself and he stayed because well, Christmas is soon. He wasn't gonna come home just to fly again. So he was there and I was here.

And we've been away for a day now and I don't miss him yet, but by tomorrow afternoon, I probably will. It sucks.

"So, how was Chicago?" Cassie asks me, taking a strawberry from the bowl, "you literally just got in yesterday night, huh?"

"It was better than I had anticipated," I instantly smile, "yeah, I had a lot of fun. The concert was amazing. We were SO close. And um, his family's really cool. Really nice. It was nice."

"Yeah, you got along with them?" Savannah smiled at me.

I nodded and felt giddy just talking about it. I did and I can't wait to see them again. "Yeah. His sister's the cutest thing in the whole world. And his mom could not have been nicer. Either Stacy was lying to me or I don't know, but I could feel she likes me."

They all looked happy for me, of course. They're my best friends. What else would they be?

Charlotte went around the room and asked everyone what they wanted to eat since she was about to order it. Morgan went with the angel hair pasta, I went with the lasagna, which Cassie did, too. Charlotte and Savannah are sharing this one plate and getting a salad for each of them or something like that. I don't know, I zoned out after my order. I just couldn't stop thinking of Troy.

Just because we're not allowed to talk to them doesn't mean I'm not allowed to think about him, right?

So here I am, thinking about him.

How I had the best time with him in Chicago.

When he took me to get the best waffles in town because he knows how much I love them.

How I met some of his family and family friends at Sienna's party, who could not have been nicer if they tired.

How we left the party to go to the John Mayer concert and we had the best time. I danced around alllll night while he swayed to the music and danced along with me at some songs. Stealing kisses here and there.

How his mom made us the best brunch ever before I had to take a flight home that day.

I can just go on and on thinking about that weekend. It was one of the best I've ever had. And it's so crazy it's with my boyfriend of a few months family. Like, it was SO simple, we barely did anything adventure, yet I had the best time with them all.

"Hello, Gabs?"

Fuck. I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to Savannah, "yeah?"

She gave me a stupid smile, and I knew she knew what I was thinking about. "What'd you get Troy for Christmas?"

I haven't gotten him anything, actually. What a shitty girlfriend, right? "Nothing," I slip off my boots and bring my feet up on the couch, "I literally have no idea what to get him. What do you get your boyfriend of less than two months?"

"It's tricky," Cassie answers me, probably knowing the most out of all of us. Her and Brendan got together a month before his birthday so she was actually the perfect person to ask. "You obviously can afford to get him a nice gift, but that can translate to feelings you know? Like, typically a husband gets their wife diamonds. A boyfriend does not give a girl he's been dating for a month diamonds. But I don't know. What does he need?"

"He says nothing," I sigh, which is so frustrating, "it's so annoying. I seriously have NO idea what to get him."

Cassie nodded, understanding my dilemma, thank God. "You can never go wrong with any sort of tickets. Or clothes. Maybe some shoes. What do you think he's getting you?"

Nothing. "Oh, nothing, I told him not to get me anything. The party and the tickets were enough. I mean, he JUST spent money on me. My birthday and Christmas should count as one thing, don't you think?"

"Maybe," she shrugged, "I'm sure he's still getting you something."

"Ugh, now I feel even more stressed out and pressured to get him the perfect gift."

Charlotte then walked back in the room and head the last tidbit, picking up on what we were talking about. "I thought you guys weren't exchanging gifts since he won't even be here?"

True. I had told her that yesterday when I called her while I waited to board my flight. "No, yeah, but I just feel like I should get him something. I mean, he got me tickets to John Mayer AND threw me a birthday party. I feel like I have to."

"Yeah, but Gabs, I'm almost positive he didn't do that just to get something in return," Morgan chimed in, "so I think you're stressing out over nothing. He probably truly means it."

Ugh. He probably does. He probably doesn't want anything, but I feel like giving him something. Even if it's something small.

I have to think about it. I have a week to do so, thank God. "Yeah, I'll see."

And all of a sudden, I miss him.

* * *

"I've missed you," Troy grabs my face and kisses me ever so gently, "kind of a lot."

"Well, good," I chuckle and walk away from him to the kitchen where I just was, "because I've kind of missed you a lot, too."

He laughed and took off his jacket and hung it on one of the chairs around the counter before taking a seat, "what are you baking? It smells really good in here."

I went to the sink and washed my hands and then looked back at him, "pumpkin bread. I wanted to surprise you, but I didn't think you were coming for another hour or so, so that's out the window now."

"I'm still surprised," he tries to make it better, "I didn't end up going with my aunt so I was bored. I'm sorry."

"NO," I say a little too loudly, which earns a laugh from him, "I mean, no, it's fine. I'm happy you're here. It's totally fine."

I go over to my counter and take out the vanilla extract and baking powder that the recipe calls for and then to one of the drawers and take out my little measuring spoons. I should have gotten everything ready so I don't have to scramble all around the kitchen, but whatever. I put everything into a bowl and then took out my mixer and mixed everything together.

Troy watched as I mixed everything, but we couldn't really talk because the mixer was so loud, nothing would be heard.

"How was Chicago?" I asked him after I poured the batter into two different pans.

"Really good," he smiles, leaning forward a bit and sticking his finger in the bowl, tasting the batter, "yeah, it was weird. It was the last time I was ever going to be in that house so it was bittersweet. Everyone was ready to leave. And now we're all here."

"How do you guys like your new place?"

Troy shrugged, "I was only in it for, like, five minutes because we were all hungry so we went to eat and after that, I came here."

Well, I'm dying to see his new place. I LOVE looking at places. I think about getting into real estate all the time, but eh, I don't know if it's my true calling. But that's beside the point right now. I don't even know what the point is, actually.

Oh. Troy. His family here. Sweet, adorable little Sienna. "Do you think Sienna would be interested in ice skating?"

"What?" he smiles, "you want to take her ice skating?"

"Well, yeah," I grab the pumpkin bread and put both pans in the oven and put the timer on, "it's so much fun. I go every winter a couple of times and I don't know, thought she'd have fun. You, too."

Troy nods and takes out his phone from his pocket and sets it on the counter, "I think she would love that. My mom has actually wanted to take her, but I think she was a little too young last winter. Well, not young, per say, but not really coordinated."

Oh. His mom wants to take her. "Oh, then um, she can take her if she's been planning on it. I don't want to step in and just..."

"No," he laughs, "I mean, yeah, she's been wanting to take her, but because she wants her to try it. I don't think it holds much importance to her or anything."

"Maybe she can come too, then," I suggest, not wanting to come off too strong. I shouldn't just inject myself into their family and hang out with them without them asking, but I don't know. I want to be friendly with them. "If you want. It doesn't matter."

He smiles, like he's actually completely on board with that idea, "yeah, yeah, I'm sure my mom would love that."

I looked over at him and I just had to stop and take him in for a second. I couldn't believe it.

"What?" he asks with a weird look on his face.

Nothing. I'm just admiring him. His beautiful cheekbones, his bright blue eyes, his smile, his messy hair, everything that just makes him so beautiful. And his equally beautiful soul. And thinking about he way he makes me smile and laugh. The way he holds a door open for me no matter where we are. The way he looks into my eyes when he's about to kiss me. The way he moves my hair out of my face. How he texts me every night to tell me goodnight. How he holds my hand as if he never wants to let it go.

But most importantly, thinking about the way he makes me feel.

How did I get so lucky?

"Nothing," I tell him, "I just... I missed you more than I thought I would." It's not a lie at all, but it's not what I was thinking about just now. I just didn't want to potentially scare him away. I think my feelings are way stronger for him than his are for me.

He got up out of his seat, came over to me, looked down into my eyes and gave me a kiss. "I missed you, too."

I'm falling for Troy Bolton and I'm falling kinda fast.

And that scares the shit out of me.


End file.
